Sentiment is a Sin
by WinterGuardianAngel24
Summary: IMPORTANT NOTICE, PLEASE CLICK ON PROFILE TO SEE.
1. Target 1

**Well, I'm kind of pissed off right now. You see, this...plot bunny (?) hopped into my brain last night and woke me up at 6 freakin' 27 in the morning, during my no school morning, and wouldn't leave me alone. So I finally gave up and typed this up in the hopes that it would leave me **_**alone**_**. But if you guys think this is any good, then I shall go ahead and continue it.**

**Even though it tortured and stole my precious hours of sleep, I hope you enjoy it.**

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Target 1

You didn't know why you were going along with this. No wait. Yes you did. It was favor. A favor to that stupid conceited Reborn.

You sigh.

Still…this was going to be a pain. But no one refused to fulfill a favor to Reborn. _No one_. No matter how small the favor, you always had to be sure to return what you owed. This only made you more pissed off at yourself, because all you had asked to borrow for moment was a stupid pen. The moment the other teen had placed the small utensil you in hand and said the words "you owe me" with his irritating smirk, you knew that you were going to be in for it later.

You sigh again and step out of the car, looking up at the apartment complex you would now be residing most of the time until further notice. The jerk hadn't told you if you were staying in the apartment as well or if it was just your temporary charge's home, but either way you were pretty much stuck there full time.

"Let's get going."

You refrain from grimacing and turn to follow your fellow student, who had just climbed out the other side of the car. '_Were teenagers allowed to drive in Japan?_' You briefly wonder, but you shake your head and set those thoughts aside so that you could focus more on the task at hand.

"Care to explain why two hitmen are now walking casually through the small town of Namimori, Japan?" You asked, not really trying to hide the irritation in your tone.

The idiot smirks, causing you to grind your teeth in frustration. "We're here to meet and babysit the potential Vongola Decimo candidate. Well, two candidates, but everyone is sure that the older one is a shoe in for the position. They say that he is the second coming or reincarnation of Vongola Primo himself."

You grimace. "Then it's even worse that _both_ of us are here."

"Not unless _one_ of us was unable to hide their trail properly," the irritating punk nearly sings in a condescending tone.

You click you tongue in annoyance. "I'm more worried that _you_ forgot to erase something. You're still a little wet behind the ears with that sort of stuff after all."

It was your turn to smirk this time, watching the slightly older teen press his lips together.

"Reborn," you say seriously. Stopping you your tracks after exiting the elevator and before the two of you could proceed any further down the hall. "Why did you call me here to help you babysit two kids? Vongola Decimo candidates or not, they don't need two hitmen here for them. You and I both know that one of us would be more than enough for this job. And being Nono's soon to be personal hitman, you should be the only one here. So why was I asked to come along?"

Reborn studies you under an intense gaze, but you don't falter. You aren't afraid of him as much as everyone else, that's probably why he tries to piss you off so much, but you won't focus on that thought for now. "I'll be training both of them, but I want to focus on them individually. Nono asked me to focus most of my time on the older sibling, so I want to make sure the younger one is looked after in case I'm too far to reach him."

"But that is not your entire reason," you state. You've known Reborn for at least five years now. You can read through him pretty well, not all the time, but enough to get you by.

The raven haired teen seems to ponder a bit, as if trying to decide whether or not he wanted to voice his other reasoning. "Perhaps another time. For now we should get going. Nana and that idiota bionda is waiting."

You groan. You _really_ didn't want to see that irritating asshole here. "Wasn't he back at the CEDEF headquarters? Why the hell is he here now?"

Reborn grimaced as well. "Probably to introduce you to the family and to get in some blubbering about his two kids and wife."

"I think I'd rather get shot again," you gripe. You could honestly say that you preferred the pain of getting shot of the blond idiot's insistent cooing. But you huff and continue to follow your fellow student.

You lean against the wall, facing the door that Reborn was reaching to knock on. You cross your arms, position a heal against the wall, and close your eyes. You need to put up a calming barrier, or risk killing everyone living on this floor due to your attempt to rid the world of an idiot.

"It seems Reborn-kun and Birdy-chan has finally arrived!" A loud and irritating voice practically yelled with a hearty laugh.

'_A professional doesn't try to kill their employers just because of a stupid nickname! A professional doesn't try to kill their employers just because of a stupid nickname! A professional doesn't try to kill their employers just because of a stupid nickname!_' You chant through your head furiously, fully aware that a dark shadow has crossed over your eyes. Your fury increased when you catch Reborn snickering from the corner of your eyes.

Iemitsu continued to smile toothily with his hands on his hips. "But I must say I'm surprised. I didn't expect the Nightingale to tag along as well."

You suppress the urge to groan again. You hated it when people called you that. You sang during one mission, then boom! All the sudden people think that's your signature. Actually, you hadn't even sung anything, you hummed!

"I believe the correct name would be the Mockingbird," Reborn corrected for you, though you don't know why. He'll probably just take advantage of helping you later. Or maybe right now, considering how wide his smirk is. "Though, I think chameleon would be a better title. Then again, it would be an insult to my partner to compare a person with such weak disguises to him."

The little green lizard flicked his tongue out, almost as if to punctuate his master's sentence. Though you know better. You and Leon get along pretty well, especially compared to your relationship with the reptilian's master.

You roll your eyes at the other teen. You were perfectly adept at blending into the environment and becoming the character you needed to be to finish a job. And you were quite good at it too.

"Honey, are you going to make our guests stand out there forever?" A female voice calls out from behind the large Italian man. She pushes the man aside and smiles at you and the other teen. "Please come in!"

Iemitsu rubs the back of his head abashedly, and stands fully aside so that you and Reborn could enter the home.

"Sorry to intrude," you mutter, knowing that it was a Japanese custom and how one was supposed to be polite. You pull off your shoes and follow after Reborn and the external advisor into the living room.

Iemitsu's smile grows when he sees his family waiting together to greet the guests. "Birdy-" you were really going to kill him if he kept that up, "chan, I'd like you to meet my two adorable sons; Giotto and Tsunayoshi!" He held a hand out to each respective boy. He placed a loving arm around his wife. "And this absolutely gorgeous woman is my amazingly wonderful wife, the adorable and beautiful Nana."

You resisted the urge to make a gagging motion, though you can tell that Reborn was facing a similar dilemma. Neither of you were really into the whole romance shindig. A gun fight or any hit mission was much more enthralling.

You turn your attention to the two younger boys while Reborn greeted the older woman. The blond one, Giotto, was ten years old and had blue cerulean eyes. He stood slightly in front of the younger boy, who was hiding behind his mother's leg, as if trying to protect him from any potential threat. Giotto was glaring lightly at the two of you, but he didn't seem very harmful. You could sense plenty of arrogance from the older boy and a great deal of other things you wouldn't let yourself to consider. You were an outsider after all, only staying here for maybe a few weeks then heading on your way, never to see them again.

You turn your attention toward the younger child, Tsunayoshi, who flinched a little under your unemotional gaze. The first thing you think is that you are going to shorten the name into something more manageable and fitting for the boy; Tsuna should work. Tsuna had brown hair and eyes like his mother, and was about the age of five. You nod to yourself. Good. Their ages were set five and ten years apart from yours respectively. That made things easier to remember. You soften your gaze. Tsunayoshi had a very pure and caring aura. You decided that you wouldn't mind watching over him after all.

The young brunette seemed to be able to sense your gaze softening considerably, because he gathers up his courage and walks over to you. He stands before you fiddling with his hands a little and smiling up shyly. You kneel on one leg so that he doesn't have to look up, to which his smile widens a little more, as does his blush. The two of you ignore the older brother coming over and taking up the younger one's hand in an act to protect and comfort. "Papa told you my name, but you can call me Tsu-kun if you want."

Never had you encountered a kid that you actually wanted to hug the stuffing out of before, but this kid was just so…cuddly looking. You settle with a small rare smile, ruffling the youngster's hair. "I have a lot of names, but I suppose you can call me JJ."

"Are you like Reborn?" Tsuna asks curiously. You raise an eyebrow, encouraging the boy to expand his question so that you could better understand. "Mama and Papa told me that Reborn is my godfather. So are you like that too?"

Reborn…Godfather…_Reborn_…_Godfather_…

You turn toward the other hitman so that the younger ones and Nana couldn't see you Cheshire cat like smile. Your pleasure increases when you detect the trace amount of pink in the other teen's cheeks. Oh~ how you were going to take advantage of this one day. But not now. You could wait patiently, and then strike when the time was right.

You tone your smile back to zero and turn back to the waiting child. "No. I'm just here to visit since Reborn wanted me to meet you two." You cackle evilly in the back of your head. This wasn't completely a lie anymore. Reborn _had_ forced you to come so that you could look after one of the two, ergo _meet_ them.

"Then, can I call you Onee-chan?" Tsuna asked hopefully, completely oblivious to Reborn and yours battle of wills.

Another small smile falls through your usually emotionless mask and you nod. Tsuna cheers and tries to hug you, but fails with his brother still clamped onto his hand.

"Welcome to the family then," Nana says warmly. "You can call me mama like Reborn too if you want!"

Mama…mother…That word doesn't fit well with you. Just like Reborn, parents and you don't work very well. He must really like Nana if he's willing to call her with that title, or he is just extremely dedicated to his role. You smile politely to the older woman. "That's okay, Sawada-san."

"Then at least call me Nana! Sawada-san makes me feel old!" The woman pushes.

"Alright then, Nana-san-" You start.

"Nana!" The other interrupts.

"Nana," you amend. "Thank you for having me."

"Where are you staying?" The woman asked conversationally, directing the group toward the kitchen.

"Well, I was planning to-" You start, only to be interrupted again.

"She should stay with us, mama," Reborn cuts in, accepting a cup of tea. "Then she can play with Tsuna while I'm tutoring Giotto."

Your eye twitches. Stupid Reborn was making decisions without consulting you again.

But Nana is oblivious and claps her hands together. "That would be wonderful! I've always wanted a daughter!"

"Ah." This situation is getting out of your hands now and it didn't look like the woman would listen to you even if you tried. You sigh and rub your temples. This was troublesome. You didn't want to be inducted into the family like this. You were supposed to remain a stranger, so that when you left there would be nothing left behind. You feel a tug on your sleeve an look over to see an expectant brunette looking up, having gotten up from his seat in front of you (Giotto seemed to have labeled Reborn as a greater threat towards his brother, which was slightly insulting).

"Will you really be staying with us?" The small brunette asks hopefully.

You could practically feel all the fight drain out of you with that one look. Those eyes were dangerous. You make a note to avoid making direct eye contact from now on. You try not to let your irritation take over when you see Reborn smirk through your peripheral vision and sighed a little. You couldn't stop another small smile from showing through. "Only if you want me too and if it's alright with your parents."

You watch in amusement as the young boy runs over and begs his father to let you stay. But this boy was emotionally taxing. If you weren't careful, then you'd get caught in his net and be unable to leave.

"So what do you do exactly?" The blond asks suspiciously, while the other members of his family were distracted.

"I try to find new ways to avoid or get payback on Reborn," you reply sarcastically.

"Only to succeed 50% of the time," the other teen chortles, to which you roll your eyes and ignore.

"I mean seriously," the blond huffs. You can tell that he is unhappy that you are treating him like a child.

"Kid," you honestly don't care that he doesn't like the nickname, as he certainly was a child, "I'm only 15, _what_ could I possibly do right now."

"Reborn told me that he already had a job and that you did too, but he didn't say what," Giotto told you.

You raised an eyebrow and rolled your eyes. "Fine, then I'm whatever he is." You jab your thumb at the other teen.

The young blonde's eyes widen dramatically. "You're an assassin too?"

You deadpan and try to slap the back of the other hitman's head, but fail. "What type of idiot goes around telling kids that?"

"You scold me for lying, now your scold me for merely telling him the truth. Make up your mind you bipolar trainee," Reborn scoffs.

"What was that you rookie?" You growl.

"You heard me short stop," Reborn sneered.

Ooh. That was harsh. Reborn knew that you were a _little_ sensitive about your height. So you were a little short. It didn't help that the stupid jerk had hit a growth spurt last month. You grind your teeth in irritation and glare at the insensitive teen. "Like you could talk…curly top."

Now Reborn was glaring at you as well.

Looks like this favor was going to be tough after all.

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**So what shall happen next? I actually have a whole plot thought out already. It just attacked me while I was writting, as if my brain was trying to come up with something just in case you guys liked this.**

**Well...**

**Reviews are lovely!**


	2. Target 2

_**Go **__**away**_** plot bunnies! Let me sleep! DX**

**Sigh. Usually I'm not one to update twice in one day, but this story wasn't letting me sleep because it created a new chapter all on its own during the day and wasn't leaving me alone, so hopefully letting it out of my brain will help.**

**I want to thank anna the viking XD and TheKawaiiStar21 for reviewing! It's nice to know that even if it is just an evil plot planning to take over my brain through lack of sleep, that you can enjoy the story. I suppose I shall continue it until either it finally stop haunting me, or if (or when it finally leaves me alone and I keep going) you guys don't find it interesting anymore.**

**Until then, I hope you enjoy.**

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Target 2

You sat and watched Tsuna play around with his blocks in amusement. For some reason the young brunette had wanted to sit on your lap, so you had agreed and seated yourself against the back of the couch so that you had something to lean against while the boy way playing. You had stretched your legs out so that they were like a triangle, going around the small brunette like a protective barrier, yet the lack of a third side kept the barrier from becoming a jail cell. Protection with freedom to move around as he pleased, as it should be when looking after a young child.

Tsunayoshi had his back against you and was playing with a happy little smile. His older brother had been kicked out of the apartment, quite literally, earlier that morning by Reborn so that they could go train. Reborn had told you to explain everything to Tsunayoshi during the time they were away.

A vein pops on your temple when you remember the other teen ordering you around. '_That jerk. He left me with the one that's more likely to cry from learning the truth._' You sigh wearily, crossing your legs and shifting the small boy so that he was sitting on your lap. Tsuna keeps playing with his blocks, happy that you didn't push him away. At least that's what you could read from his aura.

That was your unique talent, the ability to read someone through their auras. Even before you were taught how to read body language, expressions, etc., you were able to figure out what others were thinking. That's also why you stayed so emotionless most of the time, allowing your voice to speak your expressions for you. You didn't want people to be able to read you as well. But reading the auras of others was also very suffocating. Many are unable to hide their emotions and the stronger ones permeate the air in a small room in a matter of seconds, making it nearly impossible to breathe properly. If you cut out your own emotions, then it becomes like a thin barrier and makes it easier for you to bear the presence of others. On top of that, the lack of emotions physically portrayed also helped you during your jobs. It wasn't long till you came to think that hiding your emotions was as simple as eating or drinking.

That was until your teacher picked up another student. That student, who took on the name Reborn and never gave you his real name, seemed to make it his goal in life to make you show as many expressions as possible, even if they were just looks of irritation. But even though Reborn started after you, well as far as you knew anyways, he caught up and surpassed you in no time. He truly was a gifted hitman, a genius if you must. Neither of you told each other your backgrounds, but you seemed to be able to read each other quite well despite that.

You break out of your thoughts when you notice the young brunette's bright and cheery aura diming.

"Is Gio-nii training for something really big and dangerous?" Tsunayoshi asks slowly.

You debate whether or not to put your arms around the boy. It's supposed to be a sign of comfort, but you're not really used to giving out a sense of security to others. You settle with placing a hand on top of the boy's head instead. "Tsuna, did Reborn tell you about your ancestors?"

"No. Reborn didn't say anything. What are ancestors?" The young boy questions, confusion evidently laced in his tone. He twists around so that he can look at you, his toys forgotten.

"Ancestors are the people in your family who lived before you. Some were born a long, long time ago." You tried to explain as simply as you could. You waited for the boy to absorb this new piece of knowledge completely before continuing. "Your great, great, great, great grandpa was a really big mafia boss. He was called Vongola Primo and he made it so that the Vongola Family's new boss could only become the head of the family if they were of his bloodline, that way he could prevent bad outsiders from taking over. Vongola Primo actually started out as a vigilante group, people who were going to protect others from bad guys, before they ended up becoming a part of the mafia. But even then, they only used their power to protect. You and your big brother are the youngest members of that bloodline, so you two are his great, great, great, great grandsons. Do you know what this means?"

Tsuna scrunched up his face in thought as he tried to process everything. "Is Gio-nii going to be the next boss?"

You nod and ruffle the boy's hair. "You're correct."

"Then what about me?" The young brunette inquires.

"You can help him if you wish or you can lead a perfectly normal life," you tell the boy. You decide to leave out that the Vongola didn't become stained in blood until after Vongola Primo. The boy would no doubt feel saddened and worried by that news.

"Then what does that make you and Reborn?" The young brunette asks curiously.

You hesitate. For some reason you're afraid to tell the little boy the truth. There is a good chance that he'll become afraid of you if you were to tell him. But as you gaze into his eyes, you are able to see a soul much like the open sky, willing to embrace all. "Reborn and I are hitmen. Our line of work is assassination. Reborn works as Vongola Nono's personal assassin, while I work as a freelance."

Your eyebrows shoot up and your eyes widen in shock when the little boy stands up and hugs you around your neck. "That must be a really tough and scary job. I'm sorry," the boy mumbles into the crook of your neck.

You blink, still in shock before slowly raising your arms and hugging the small boy. "Foolish child, there is no reason for you to apologize."

You are glad that Reborn isn't around right now, or else he would have surely made fun of the smile plastered on your face.

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"You shouldn't have pushed him so hard," you reprimanded Reborn tiredly as you clean another of the many wounds on the young blonde's body.

"He nearly killed me!" Giotto complains to you loudly. You suppose that he has decided to accept you for now because you were able to keep his brother happy, you chastised Reborn, and you were bandaging his wounds as gently and pain free as you could.

"Don't move," you scold the oldest child lightly, who kept squirming. Ten year olds had way more energy than you were willing to contend with, yet this boy had nothing but complaints the moment he entered through the main door. You briefly wonder if some of these injuries came from Reborn's attempt to make the blond shut up. You wouldn't put it past the other hitman…No, you don't have to wonder. You're positive that, that's exactly what the other teen did. You desist from sighing for the umpteenth time.

"He was completely pathetic," Reborn rebutted your telling-off. "I had higher expectations for him, but he could barely run five yards without complaining."

"So how long did he have to run total?" You ask, then you remember that this was Reborn, so there was probably something else in that training. "And what was chasing after Giotto."

"He only ran three miles with only a bulldog chasing after him to increase his overall output," Reborn defended himself.

You shake your head. "Not everyone is a genius like you Reborn. Three miles is a great deal for a child of ten, who has only ever participated in regular school athletics."

"You manage just fine," Reborn argues easily.

"_I_ have been training since birth," you rebuke. You sigh and stand after putting the last bandage in place. You make a mental note to visit the child while he was sleeping so that you could heal a few of his wounds with your flames. But you'd probably have to do so without Reborn finding out, or he would undeniably increase Giotto's training requirement and probably make you train as well.

Though you loathed to admit it, both you and Reborn shared a similar flame attribute. But you also had a secondary, the mist flame. It took less energy to use your mist flames to hide something. So when you went on missions and got injured, you healed the more serious wounds, then hide the rest so that you would appear uninjured. However, you noticed that it didn't take as much energy to heal other people's wounds. Maybe it was fates way of cursing you and preventing you from being successfully selfish with your ability.

"Are you okay, Gio-nii?" Tsuna asked hesitantly, peeking out from his hiding spot behind you.

"I'm perfectly okay!" The blond boasts to his little brother. "I'm always strong enough to protect you, Tsu-kun!"

You refrain from frowning, both from the amount of possessiveness the two older boys radiated as well as the words Reborn was surely about to voice.

"If that's the case, then tomorrow you can run five miles and complete the entire workout regimen I made for you," the hitman says with a smirk.

"What! But you had a hundred each of sit ups, pushups, and other crazy exercises on that list!" The younger blond complains.

You take a deep breath and excuse yourself, leaving the room with Tsuna's hand in your own. You were fully aware of the other hitman's gaze watching the two of you steadily as both of you leave, but you ignored it and focused on keeping the young brunette from tripping over himself. You found out today that the youngest child was in fact very clumsy. You wanted to take the young one away from the other room, which was filled to the brim with the older two males' suffocating aura of possessiveness. It was making you sick it was so strong. And it was so horribly similar…

The amount of control that they were trying to exercise over the young brunette troubled you greatly. They were trying to cage this small sky like a young bird that had yet to learn of the world. From what you could tell from reading their auras, at this rate young Tsunayoshi would end up like the frog that lived in a well and thought a pond was the ocean. That was…if he could ever escape.

It reminded you of your own fate, where your wings were clipped, preventing you from flying away from your cage. The nightingale stuck to only sing to its master. It terrified you, causing you to start shivering lightly despite your efforts. You nearly jump when you feel a tug on your pants. But when you look down, you immediately calm down, seeing only the youngest brunette.

"Yes?" You ask him, all traces of your fear hidden away once more.

"Are you okay nee-chan?" Tsuna inquires, concern etched all over his face and voice.

You crouch down so that the two of you could talk at an even height. "Yes. Why would you think something was wrong?"

"Nee-chan is feeling very scared of something," the young boy told you. "Can Tsu-kun help?"

You blink in surprise. "What makes you think that?"

"Tsu-kun gets this feeling in his tummy sometimes," the little brunette pointed to his abdomen, "and this feeling tells Tsu-kun about others. So can Tsu-kun help?"

You ruffle the boy's hair and smile a little. "You just did. Thank you."

"But Tsu-kun didn't do anything!" The little boy protested, thinking that you weren't taking him seriously because of his age.

You shake your head, smile still in place. "You helped me because you showed me that you were worried for my well-being. So thank you, Tsu-kun, for caring."

Was the potential of getting caught in another net supposed to feel so inviting?

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**Thanks for reading! Reviews are lovely!**


	3. Target 3

**Sigh, this plot is on my mind to the point I practically passed out from exhaustion yesterday, which is also why I didn't update a third freakin' time in one day. But I hope this catches your interest.**

**Thanks you: sourapple2000, Preppy-Stealthy-Ninja, and anna the viking XD for reviewing! It does help to see that this plot didn't attack me for nothing.**

**I hope you like this chapter!**

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Target 3

You were torn between being very, very pissed off and slightly/barely happy. It has now been nearly a whole year since you started this 'favor' for Reborn. By now you have tried plenty of times to leave, but Reborn always seemed to be around during an attempt and then he would find a way to sneak one of the Sawadas' over to 'checkup' on you and make sure everything was okay. It made your blood boil how that jerk, who was only two years older than you, was able to outmaneuver you every time. You were a professional hitman (well hit woman) too, dammit!

What made it worse was that during one of his visits, Iemitsu would act all 'sympathetic' saying that Reborn was called the strongest hitman in the world, so it was to be expected that you couldn't beat him. You had punched the man square in the jaw, then in the stomach that same day. Actually…Other than the older blonde's stupid condescending remark, that was actually a really good day. You had gotten to vent a lot of pent up anger (accumulated mostly thanks to Reborn) on some pathetic wannabe hitmen and other assassins, and Tsuna had drawn a picture of a lion for you during his class in preschool…Yeah, good day…

That year there had also been the issue of birthdays. While Reborn was _completely_ fine with _everyone_ knowing when his birthday was, you just wanted the anniversary of your birth to pass over as any other day, if not a little faster than others. But for Reborn's birthday, you made sure to dress in black, complete with a dark veil. It was a day for mourning the birth of a sadistic demon. You had given him a bouquet of white lilies (also part of your 'mourning'), as well as a newly designed glock from the subcompact: Slim line series G36, and a new gun cleaning kit (you knew he needed to restock soon anyways, so why not get it before he does so that you don't have to think too much about what to get him as a gift). He seemed pleased enough with the presents, never one for frivolous things or knickknacks that would only collect dust.

The next day you had worn a light orange dress shirt, it was Tsuna's favorite one out of your wardrobe of multi colored dress shirts and suits, and made sure that your gift to the young boy was wrapped in orange as well. You had gotten him a mini stuffed lion wearing a custom built helmet, that Tsuna had actually designed (albeit sloppily seeing as he was just a kid) in the drawing he had made for you. Actually, the whole lion was custom made for the boy, but you couldn't tell him that or he would definitely fret about you spending too much money, which was silly since you had more than enough. You had also pulled him out of school early (that way Giotto and Reborn couldn't come along, though they were unhappy when they found out later) and treated the younger boy to a movie and ice cream.

For Giotto's birthday you managed to get Reborn to give the boy a day off by calling up Nono and requesting that he either ordered Reborn to take a day of rest or to go off on some mission to god knows where. You will probably have to pay for that eventually, but at least the blond had been able to enjoy the day with all his friends and family. Giotto had been extremely thankful and had even hugged you (you were a little suspicious about the slight reddening of his cheeks, but then Reborn had said something that drew your attention away before you could inspect any further). Your other gift to him was actually a set of seven custom made dog tags. One side had the inscription: _To my family, a vow to protect. To my nakama, a vow of eternal friendship_ (you had to do a little research and found that the watches of the first generation had had a similar inscription). The other side had a corresponding flame to their position as guardian, Giotto of course receiving the tag with the orange flame, his friend G with a red flame, and so on. What you didn't tell them was that the flame was made out of an actual gem (ex. Giotto got an imperial orange topaz).

For Nana's birthday and anniversary, you combined the two as one big gift of her taking a whole week with her husband on some trip. It had taken a lot of blackmailing and threatening the idiot outside advisor on your part, but Nana's expression had been worth it. Somehow the woman knew that the vacation was your doing because when she came back, she brought you several gifts you would probably never use and had demanded to know when your birthday was.

This had a domino effect of having both Tsuna and Giotto get on your case as well. It seemed that your excuse of 'it'll come around eventually' had passed its expiration date and now they weren't going to take any other excuse for an answer. When you told them that you really didn't want to celebrate your birthday and you didn't mind not getting any gifts or the like, they had adamantly refused saying that they wanted to celebrate the day that someone as wonderful as you had come into the world, much to your chagrin. They said they also wanted to thank you for everything that you had done.

Reborn had only worsened matters (purposely you might add) by telling the others that he had already given his gift to you, which wasn't untrue. He had gotten you a new pair of arm guards (having broken your old ones by 'accident'), as well as a pendant made of topaz and with the kanji 'hope' inscribed, that was hung on a silver chain. You weren't really into jewelry, but the sentiment was nice enough so you kept it in its box somewhere safe.

The trio had then begged him to tell them when your birthday was, but Reborn had 'sadly promised' that he had sworn not to give away your secret and that it was up to you whether or not you wanted others to know. But his knowledge of the date of your birthday was completely by mistake. He had found out by accident during one of your joint training missions. It was actually the only demand of yours that he actually followed through with and had told no one of his findings, not even your teacher. The day of your birth would only darken the day. It would be better for them to let that cursed day pass like any other. But the three were persistent. Finally after an exceptionally painful, sparkly, and teary set of puppy eyes from Tsuna, you caved a little and told the group that you really didn't like that day and that it only brought back bad memories for you.

You had hoped that they would leave you alone after that, but they then decided to celebrate the day they first met you, which brings you back around to being torn between opposing emotions. While you were happy that Tsunayoshi was so excited, it was amusing to see him try to hide his present for you when it was clearly seen from behind his back, you were also irritated that Iemitsu had decided to come back for this occasion. That and Reborn was all smiles/smirks today. That hitman should be thanking the gods that his youngest godson was in the room, otherwise you would have been attempting to maul his sorry ass along with the CEDEF leader's right about now.

You huff wearily and walk over to the outside porch in hopes of catching a few Z's, but the moment you start to relax into the floorboards, your senses went haywire and you shot up. In a blink of an eye you were down the street with safety on your gun clicked off. You know for sure that Reborn saw you leave and was now on high alert as well. He and Iemitsu would surely stay behind and watch over the other three while you took care of the situation.

Though…you weren't really sure what type of situation it was. Your senses went on high alert, yes. But you didn't feel any threatening presences or auras. It actually felt like someone was calling out to you. But that couldn't be…right?

You become uneasy when you reach the edge of the forest. Normally in all those movies, following some unknown force into a dark forest tended to end very badly for said person. You sweat drop. You had been laying around in a normal civilian life for way to long if those sorts of thoughts were entering your head during these types of moments. You shook your head lightly and followed the traces of an unknown presence inside. You stick to the shadows of the trees, moving up into the branches when you neared the source. You frown at the single pregnant woman garbed in a white dress with orange lining her frame, and a big poofy hat. This is where the signal is coming from, but surely you had to be wrong.

"I know you're there," the woman calls out softly. She turns around and you can see a pink five petal flower right below her left eye. "Why don't you come out? I mean you no harm."

You look around before easing out of the shadows and stepping into the light. "You were the one who called me…why?"

The woman smiles warmly. "You are correct. I called you. My name is Luce."

"Luce?" You asked, raising an eyebrow to show skepticism. "As in Luce, the boss of the Giglio Nero? And holder of the sky mare ring?"

The woman nods. "That would be correct."

You rub your eyes with a hand, the other one supporting your elbow. "My brain must have finally busted. I bet it's all Reborn's fault."

"Oh? What do you feel about Reborn?" Luce asked.

"He's annoying," you growl. "He's a cocky, over confident, arrogant, pain in the ass; and I don't like him."

"Don't like? Do you hate him?"

You wave the woman's question away. "Hate is a strong word. And I don't use strong words unless I mean them with all my heart."

Luce nods with a warm smile. You begin to wonder why though, it's not like you complimented the irritating bastard. "Do you mind if I ask a favor of you."

"Ugh. No more favors please," you groan, pressing a hand over your eyes again.

Luce chuckled. "I just want to ask you to keep an extra careful eye on one of the skies you already watch over."

You look up with a slight frown. "What do you mean?"

"There is a pure and wonderful sky flame, but it is also very fragile and will be easily snuffed out by a strong sun flame and another sky flame." Luce says this to you gravely, her eyes and aura speaking nothing but grief to you.

Out of curiosity and to try to get a better reading of the woman before you, you start to lower your barrier, but you clutch you head as an on slaughter of pain attacks you. It hurts so much, but you manage to keep yourself from falling to the ground. This woman's aura held so many clashing emotions of great pain and sorrow, but also great happiness. You look up again when you finally have a handle on your control again, panting a little. "You see the future, don't you?"

The older woman smiles apologetically. "I apologize for that. I should have warned you what would have happened if you tried to lower your barrier to get a better feel of my aura…but yes, I do. However, the future isn't set in stone."

"The pure flame is from Tsuna, isn't it?" You asked, only to sigh when the other woman nods in confirmation. You push yourself into an upright position again. You refuse to show any weakness, especially in front of a mafia boss. "I was already able to calculate that much during the first time I was alone with the little one and then when I placed him together with Reborn and Giotto. It was like trying to breath through a wet rag, their aura was so oppressive. But I think you should find someone else for the job. I'm only here for a short period of time, not forever. But I shall agree to look after Tsuna until you have someone else more suitable to a long term protection aid."

Luce sighed and stared at you with troubled, but knowing eyes. "That will have to make do for now." There was a flash of light and the woman disappears. Only a whisper of her plea that you speak of this to no one was left behind.

You star at the spot where the other had stood moments before. You wanted to help, really you did. But you were just a stranger and this wasn't your battle to wage. Your favor would be over to Reborn soon and then you would return to your normal life. And that life was way too dangerous for those kids.

No.

You would not allow yourself to get attached. You were a professional assassin, a hit woman. You couldn't afford a weakness like a child would undoubtedly bring.

This was just a favor, and favors were just like a binding contract. You only gave until you fulfilled the terms of completion, then you were supposed to go on your way without ever looking back.

You feel something running down to your lip, so you reach up and press a finger under your nose and retract your hand. You blink, unsure how to feel about the blood clinging to your finger. Was a nosebleed supposed to be a sign that bad things were to come if you didn't take the proper actions? But how could the future of this family possibly affect you?

* * *

**I shall leave you to ponder about this for a while. Chapter 4 will be out soon. Like REALLY soon...Probably like in a few hours soon..."OTL**

**Reviews are lovely!**


	4. Target 4

**Chapter five has already been started. While this is driving me crazy, I guess this must be good for you guys.**

**But I want to thank: TheKawaiiStar21, sourapple2000, and Preppy-Stealthy-Ninja for reviewing. It makes me feel a little better about the killer bunny plot threatening me with its fangs of doom. ;)**

**Please enjoy!**

* * *

Target 4

You sigh and pinch your nose, heading back to the apartment complex, taking out a handkerchief to try to clean up a little and catch the blood that was escaping your hold. That idiot Reborn is the one who answers the door when you finally make it back. You glare at the other teen as you press a cloth over your nose. Now that you think of it, that nosebleed was probably caused by that headache you had earlier. You narrow your eyes as you think about what Luce had told you, but you only succeed in making yourself even more pissed off than before.

"This is all _your_ damn fault," you tell the hitman.

Reborn raises an eyebrow. "And how is that? I'm pretty sure if I went, then I would have come back perfectly fine." He leads you over to the bathroom so that you can take care of all the blood before the others see.

You click your tongue in irritation. "Of course you would, you don't have a handicap weighing you down. And apparently, telling you would solve nothing. Now I've gotten stuck with fulfilling another stupid request."

Reborn frowned a miniscule amount, but you were more than capable of seeing it. "So you didn't get into a fight. Then how'd you get the nosebleed?"

"The person's aura was all over the place, gave me a god damn headache." You were in a really, _really_ bad mood right now, making your swearing levels spike abnormally. "You need to really cut down your possessive, super controller, freak stuff."

You notice the other teen twitch, causing you to smirk. It was always enjoyable to push Mr. Always-Calm-and-Cool to his limits. But the smirk was short lived as another spike of pain attacks your head. You're emotional barrier was down because Reborn was around, but you really needed it up right now to protect yourself from the surrounding fluctuating auras. "Reborn, if you're not going to control your aura, can you get out?" You mutter, a hand clasped over your head.

Reborn shakes his head. You take that as his apology for not keeping his emotions in check and lean against the counter. "Reborn, what's your relationship to the kids?"

"Why, jealous?" He asks, smirking.

You raise an eyebrow at the man, but you're a little glad that he has returned to normal. "Seriously. You're a teacher and evil demon overlord to Giotto, but what about Tsuna?"

"He may not be the next Vongola boss, but he's important," Reborn tells you.

"But what is he to _you_?" You reiterate more specifically.

"He's someone I don't want to die early."

You stare at a dot on the floor so that you can avoid looking at the other teenager. You knew that, that was Reborn talk for: Tsuna is someone I care about. Normally you would tease him for this, but after meeting Luce and confirming your suspicions, you're not sure if this was a good thing. Though, you wonder why Reborn is actually answering you truthfully rather than dodging the question, since he knows that you would usually tease him for such an answer. No, that thought was better left unanswered. You didn't want to get stuck in the conundrum that was Reborn's mind.

You pull you hand and cloth away from your face and are pleased to see that the bleeding had finally stopped. You wash away all evidence of blood on your persons and look back up to meet Reborn's steady gaze. "I'm sure you know that staring is rude, so if you have something to say, you should just spit it out already."

Reborn opens his mouth to say something, but hesitates. "Why did you ask about my relationship with Tsunayoshi?"

You almost frown. For some reason you know that, that wasn't his original question. But you answer anyways. "Your aura flows out with great strength when he's around. I ask because I want to know why you keep trying to drown me whenever the two of you are together."

Reborn nods. "I'll keep that in mind."

You shrug. "It's not anything I can't deal with. This is only a temporary thing right now in any case. As soon as my favor is repaid, I'm leaving. Anyways, we should go join the others before Nana throws a fit." You ignore and refuse to read the emotion flickering in the other hitman's eyes and walk out.

"Nee-chan! Nee-chan!"

You look up to see Tsuna running over to you with Giotto following closely behind. You almost frown as you, once again, think about Luce's request/warning. But you keep an emotionless mask on and nod to the two.

Tsuna smiles brightly. "Come on nee-chan! Mama says it's time to eat!" The little boy grabs one of your hands with two of his own and pulls.

Your eyes soften and you allow yourself to be tugged toward the kitchen.

Dinner was eventful and rather tiresome on your part. It takes a lot more energy than anyone would assume when keeping yourself from killing an irritating person. Iemitsu was loud and annoying, much to your frustration, and he kept calling you Birdy-chan. You know that if you don't make him stop soon, then Tsuna would pick it up and then it'll never leave.

Now after eating, everyone is seated around the coffee table. You are seated on the middle of the couch with Giotto and Reborn seated beside you, Tsuna had claimed your lap as his seat right after you sat down, Nana and Iemitsu were seated on the love seat across from you.

Tsuna turns around in your lap and holds up a box wrapped in yellow with a white ribbon. "Nee-chan! This is my gift to you!"

You refrain from sighing. You really didn't want any gifts, but you accept the box anyway. You pull off the ribbon and tie it around and across the small brunette's head which made him look like a mini warrior, or even a cute delinquent. The little boy laughed and reached up to feel what you had done. You half smile and unwrap the gift. Inside was seated a black bowler hat with a yellow ribbon tied around it in a bow and with the ends long enough for its ends to dangle off a good two feet. While the ribbon could become inconvenient on a job, you did like the hat. You flipped it before settling it on your head, the bow facing the back and the ribbons falling behind your head.

"How do I look?" You ask the child.

"Nee-chan looks cute and dangerous at the same time!" Tsuna tells you happily.

Even though the child's statement was a little weird, you smile and ruffle his hair with a murmured thanks.

Nana claps her hands together, drawing your attention. "You look like a cute version of Reborn-kun!"

You deadpan and tell yourself not to throw the hat away, reminding yourself that it was a gift from Tsuna. But looking anything like Reborn was the last thing you wanted.

Iemitsu laughs. "Now the two of you match!"

You and Reborn twitch. The temptation to kill the moronic blond was almost too strong to resist at this point, but Tsuna squirms in your lap a little, reminding you that showering the room in blood wouldn't do the little ones any good.

Nana and Iemitsu hands a gift to you next. It turns out be an assortment of accessories (many of which you'd rather die than even get caught wearing) as well as a kimono which was for the upcoming summer festival you supposed. But you feel several veins pop in irritation when you see the stupid thing had a bird print, Iemitsu's idea no doubt.

"We thought you would look really cute at the summer festival in that, Birdy-chan!" The blond moron laughs. "And I said we should get the one with the birds because it would match your nickname!"

'_Can't kill him! You're not allowed to kill him! Think! Tsuna and Giotto still need a father!_' You tell yourself, but Reborn's smirk was making it difficult to follow your thoughts through.

"Here you go JJ," Giotto jumps in, probably to prevent you from going ballistic. He hands you a small slim box. You open it to see a charm bracelet. There are already a few charms attacked, but most prominent of them was a yellow gem shaped like a rose. You thank him with a small warm smile and clip it around your wrist.

"I'm curious," you start while studying your gifts, "as to why all of you seem to enjoy giving me yellow stuff."

"Because nee-chan is so happy!" Tsuna cheers.

You deadpan. You know that most of the time, heck even now, you have a blank face clear of any emotion. So where on earth did this kid come up with that?

"Even though you don't show it, nee-chan is happy and light all the time. Nee-chan also tries really hard to make all of us feel happy and warm too!" Tsuna explains, his brother nodding in agreement.

You sigh and shake your head. What a foolish notion…but…it was nice to be accepted. You smile a little and ruffle the youngest boy's head.

"You have one last gift," Reborn says suddenly.

You look over at the other with an eyebrow slightly raised. "You already gave me something and I don't want anything else from you."

But the raven haired man shakes his head. "My gift to you is freedom. Your favor is repaid. You're free to leave."

A huge vein pops on your temple. That…_complete_…_ASS_! He did that on purpose. You grind your teeth as you stare at his triumphant smirk.

"You're not going to leave us are you?" Tsuna pleads and hugs you.

Giotto reaches forward and grabs your arm as well. "I thought you were going to stay and help us deal with Reborn! How am I supposed to survive without someone to balance out that Spartan and help me take care of my injuries after training?" He hugs you as well, hiding his face in your shoulder.

"I don't want you to go! Please don't leave us," Tsuna cries, burying his head into the crook of your neck.

'_Death to the stupid manipulative jerk_,' you think to yourself. You would have your revenge for this one. You sigh and pat the top of the two desperate boys' heads. "I'm not going anywhere. Who else is going to help you pull off a prank on Reborn one of these days?"

This earns you a cheer and tackle from the kids, as well as a small scowl from Reborn. But he also seems pleased, which pisses you off. He made it near impossible for you to leave. This can turn out very badly, but you can't stay forever. You know that one of these days, your presence is going to become a hindrance to these two. Reborn can get away with it because he's earned the title of being the greatest hitman of this generation, but you're just any other hit woman. You don't scare people enough to make them stay away like Reborn can. There's also the matter that you have other missions to take care of.

You sigh internally, what are you supposed to do now?

* * *

"Sure, I can take care of it," you reply into the phone softly. You listen to the other and nod, even though they can't see you. "Yes, that's fine. I'll finish it within the next two weeks…Alright, ciao."

"A hit?"

You turn around to see Reborn leaning against your doorframe with his arms crossed, regarding you carefully.

You nod. It's not like you had anything to hide and the other would have to know about it eventually. "I hear you have a few jobs lined up too. Are you going to take care of those?"

A strange look crosses the teen's face. You're not really sure what he was thinking, it was almost like he was in a daze. But Reborn wasn't the type to become distracted by a memory or thought like that. What exactly was going on with him?

"I think I will," he finally replies. "I don't really need the money, but it'll be nice to exercise my skills."

You nod again. "Well good luck with that I suppose." You get to make sure your guns were in their holsters and pulled your hair up into a messy bun.

"You're leaving now?" Reborn inquires.

You deadpan. No~ you were just getting ready to go clubbing with your dress shirt, slacks, and guns.

Reborn smirks, like he can read your thought process, which he probably can. It's not like you were trying to hide that particular train of thought. "You aren't going to say good-bye to the kids?"

You shake your head while strapping a watch to your wrist, putting on your new hat as well. "Nah, I'll be back soon anyways."

"Want to take Leon with you?"

You chuckle. "Honestly Reborn, you're starting to sound like a worried housewife." You wink and jump out the window before you could pay for your quip. You don't bother looking back before you disappear into the night, knowing that Reborn is watching till you're completely out of sight.

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**Reviews are lovely!**


	5. Target 5

**Hello. Has anyone gotten their hands on a spare off switch for the creative section of your brain? Mine seems to have broken and I'd like to replace it.**

**Until then, I hope that you will be able to enjoy the story that won't shut up.**

**A big thank you to: sourapple2000, anna the viking XD, and Maziodyne for reviewing my last chapter! You guys make my situation a whole lot better, since it's nice to know that I'm not just writing nonsense.**

**Hope this chapter is to your liking!**

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Target 5

You cock you gun silently and take aim. The silencer you attached mutes your shot and all that could be heard was a couple of thumps as two bodies hit the ground. But by that time you are already past their falling limp forms and moving through the mansion like a shadow. The head of the household falls just as quickly and soon you are rifling through the files, looking for the information to find your main target. There's only a little bit, but it's just enough to locate the general area of the person. And like a breath of wind you disappear from the mansion, leaving the head of the house to be discovered in the morning.

The next day finds you landing in North America and checking into a hotel under one of your many aliases. You take a day couple of days of rest and continue a few days later. You search around the underground and back alleys, gathering all the information you can get. Your reputation isn't nearly as influential as Reborn's, but you still have enough of a name to get what you need with a little 'persuasion'. You can now begin searching for the person. You narrow down your results from the information and determine that they're now situated in a small town named Portsmouth in New Hampshire.

The next morning you're stepping off a plane and heading over to the location. You break into the small office and quickly pass through the hidden door located through a small painting. The moment your feet touch the ground you are assaulted by a series of traps and droids. You shoot them down easily, reloading your gun when you dodge. You use your flexibility and slim build to your advantage, sliding underneath low set desks or using the pipes on the ceiling to flip and twist yourself out of harm's way.

You enter what you know is the main room and put away your gun, but you remain on high alert. You have a feeling that the attacks would stop if you made yourself appear defenseless…'_Don't fail me now gut._' One of the more advanced droids comes through the door and heads straight for you. You stare at it unblinkingly without fear. The robot abruptly shuts down mid attack and falls to the ground. You don't even give the thing a second glance as you focus your gaze on the area where another's aura could be located.

"You're pretty good, but you should have kept your weapon out. You're standing on another trap with eight lasers pointed right at you. If I had allowed them to fire, there wouldn't have been anywhere you could go." A figure steps out of the shadows, revealing a man in a lab coat pushing up his glasses.

"I know." You nod. "But I figured that all of this was just a test, since you're the type who is always trying to gather new information. Besides you were the one who agreed to exchange information with my employer. This was just part of your payment. Besides, the laser in the upper right corner isn't functioning properly. It would have given me enough maneuvering room to take out the rest and move out of the way in time." Though, if you think about it, Reborn would have been able to get around everything even if they were all functioning at 150 percent capacity. You take a Gatling gun to that thought process. Stupid Reborn. He isn't even here and he's still finding ways to piss you off.

The man smirks. "You are correct. The requirements of the exchange were for you to be able to locate me as well as get through at least my basic traps."

You nod again. It was like you had thought. "Then let's get this over with. You can call me Sora."

The man nods. "Verde."

* * *

Truly, you were pissed at Reborn right now.

"Reborn said you had left all of the sudden and he didn't think you were coming back," Tsuna wailed, tears seeping out from behind his little fists.

"How come you left without saying good bye?" Giotto demands, clearly upset but refusing to cry and let himself appear weak.

You eye twitches and you sweat drop. That idiot. He was trying to put you in all these situations on purpose. And you had even come back a whole week earlier than you planned too. You sigh internally, but kneel down in front of the crying brunette with an apathetic face. "Reborn was just teasing you. Of course I wouldn't leave without saying goodbye."

"I doubt that Qiăo would be that heartless."

You look around to your acquaintance who you met in New York before you came back. "You shouldn't sound so confident about that one. You know my nature as well as anyone, Fēng."

The martial artist smiles softly, but nods in agreement. "You tend to be even more unpredictable than the wind, Xiăo-Niăo."

Your mouth falls at a slant and you frown. "Don't call me that. I'm getting tired of all the stupid bird names."

Fēng bows a little. "My apologies, I shouldn't tease you like that."

"So who's the puppy who followed you home," Reborn asked, leaning against the wall with his arms crossed, watching you calm the still crying Tsuna. He sounded a little irritated, but that could just be your jet lag talking.

"What did that guy call you?" Giotto interjects when he was finally sure that you hadn't just left and it was all just Reborn using his usual demon antics.

You gather Tsuna into your arms and stand up. "I told you I have a lot of names, didn't I?"

"But didn't he just call you hello in Italian?" Giotto presses.

You blink. "Well I guess they do sound the same. I never really thought about it though since I just automatically translate. But Fēng just called me Qiăo, it's a Chinese name meaning truthful. It's the name he gave me during our first meeting and it just stuck. Fēng's name translates to wind if you must know."

"What about the other one?" Tsuna asks curiously. He was still hiccupping but his curiosity was getting the better of him.

"What other one?" You replied with your own question in the hopes of avoiding the original question entirely.

Fēng chuckles, knowing your true aim. "I called her Xiăo-Niăo, which is a name that translates to little bird."

You exhale sharply and glare lightly at the other boy.

"Why does everyone call you a bird?" Giotto asks.

"Yeah, even papa calls you Birdy-chan," The little brunette agrees, twisting around again so that he can look at you.

"Keep squirming like that and I'll drop you," you warn the little one with a huff, adjusting the boy's position so that you had a better grip.

"It's because she's her name as an assassin is the Mockingbird," Reborn answers for you with a smirk. To which you roll your eyes and head to the kitchen instead of taking Reborn's bait. "So is there any particular reason why you allowed someone to follow you back from a mission?"

You frown a little. You didn't like what the hitman was implying. Fēng was actually one of the few people in the world that you could stand. "Fēng is a friend. We met by coincidence after I had finished with my mission and he had something to do in Japan anyways, so I invited him to travel and visit with me for a while. I also felt like he would get along with Tsuna nicely."

Reborn narrows his eyes. You're starting to find his strange behavior rather irritating.

Fēng chuckled. "You have proven to be even more guarded and yet trusting than I had originally thought, Reborn."

You blink. It was like your companion's words were moving through your brain like cement. You point at the duo. "You two already know each other?"

"We've met," Reborn said tersely, unwilling to expand his answer.

A vein pops on your temple in irritation so your redirect your attention and question to the other teenage male.

"Reborn, I, and a few others have been asked to complete a series of jobs as a group," Fēng replies cordially.

You scrunch up your face. Reborn, work together, and group were not words that you commonly associated with each other. Trying to put them in the same _book_ together was enough to start giving you headache. You adjust Tsuna again so that you had a free hand to press to your temple in an attempt to stop the oncoming pain.

Reborn clicked his tongue. "I'm capable of working with others, you idiot."

"Pff," you press a fist to your mouth to keep yourself from laughing aloud. Reborn playing well with others was that hilarious of a concept. "Sure~ you can, Mr. Suspicious of everything hitman," you say in with a slightly condescending tone, the corners of your mouth twitches in your effort to keep from smirking at the other.

Reborn glares at you and starts moving as if he was going to hit you, but you look down pointedly at the brown puffball that was still seated in your arms, which was more than enough to make the teenager back down.

"So what happened while I was gone?" You ask conversationally to drive the topic into another direction. Your questions would be better suited for when the three of you were alone.

"Reborn threw me off the roof of the school!" Giotto immediately started complaining.

You only half listen, as is routine. You ask about their day and Giotto will complain about everything Reborn did, then Reborn will reason his actions, then Tsuna would ask if everyone was alright, finally you scold Reborn. But you only really put half the effort in today. Finding out that Fēng and Reborn already knew each other made you think about the mission you just finished. Verde had slipped that he had gotten pulled into working with a group of seemingly powerful individuals consisting of himself, a former military officer turned teacher, martial artist, extreme and seeming immortal stuntman, psychic/illusionist, fortune teller, and hitman. The rumor was that they were the strongest seven of the generation…What was going on?

* * *

After your 'reunion', Tsuna and Giotto went to bed, and the two other teenagers and you were heading out to the nearby shrine so that they could talk in private.

"Reborn, you're looking to pick a fight and I want you to knock it off," you tell the hitman once you reach your destination.

Reborn narrows his eyes. "Then you shouldn't bring around people you barely associate with onto missions."

You raise an eyebrow. "This isn't a mission anymore. You said I was free to do what I wished, remember?"

"That doesn't mean you can bring potentially dangerous people around!" Reborn practically snaps.

It was your turn to narrow your eyes now. "I've known Fēng for nearly seven years now, I don't think he's about to become some mass murderer. I met Fēng when teacher took me train in China for a few months. We've stayed in contact since then."

Reborn didn't say anything, choosing to stick his hands into his pockets and glare at you.

You roll your eyes, but drop the subject. You cross your arms and let your gaze flicker between the hitman and martial artist. You sigh. "This is too troublesome to look into, so I'll just ask if you know who else is in your little group."

"If I remember correctly," Fēng answers complacently, "there is a Miss Lal Mirch and Luce-"

You heart gives a start and your eyebrows quirk down for the shortest of seconds in recognition, your eyes flashing a little, but you refrain from speaking.

"Then there is myself, Reborn, Viper, Skull, and Verde." Fēng folds his hands together under his sleeves.

You make clicking noises with your tongue as you think about everyone who was gathering. "This practically reeks of danger. Whatever stupid thing you're gotten yourselves into, be sure to leave me out of it." You easily dodge the bullet Reborn had aimed for your head.

"You know Luce and Verde." It wasn't a question, Reborn knows you better than you would like to admit.

"I also know of Lal, although not on a personal level." You uncross one hand and wave it in a slight shrug. "I don't even think I've said hello before."

"Then this would be a good time to start, kora!"

A vein pops on your temple for the umpteenth time today at the voice and several more appear when an arm is thrown over your shoulder. "It seems that another irritating one has arrived," you growl.

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**Reviews are lovely!**


	6. Target 6

**Sigh. So yesterday, when I woke up, I took a shotgun and killed the stupid plot bunny and buried it alive. Then I buried it and went to go celebrate a family member's birthday. But the moment my head hit the pillow to go to sleep, zombie plot bunny came back and attacked me. So now here is another chapter after another sleepless night.**

**Anyways, I want to say a BIG thank you to: sourapple2000, anon, and anna the viking XD. You make staying up all night seem alright with your reviews! I apologize for not replying to your reviews directly, but frankly I'm too tired after each upload.**

**I hope you enjoy this chapter!**

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Target 6

You take the arm over your shoulder and twist the person over your back and onto their backside in front of you. You glare at the teenager lying by your feet in apparent pain, but also amusement. "What have I told you about touching me, Colonello?"

"Your personal bubble seems just as bad as ever," the blond grunts through a strained, yet still somehow hearty, laugh while getting up and brushing the dirt off.

"That's not a suitable answer you military junky," you gripe, crossing your arms once again and tapping your foot to show your growing impatience.

But Colonello just laughs. "Sorry, but your threats don't affect me anymore. Lal would kick my butt if I wasn't able to handle that much."

"Oh?" You raise an eyebrow. "I take that as a challenge then."

Before the blond has time to move, you're behind him and twisting his arm around. You apply just enough pressure so that he is only a hair's breath away from having his arm broken. But when the man still doesn't react beyond a small tightening of his lips, you then start jabbing different spots in his muscles that would make them cramp up, as well as different clusters of nerves.

"This isn't how I wanted our first time meeting up in years to go," Colonello groans.

"You really are pathetic."

You look up to see a teenage girl with blue hair, wearing a brown military uniform. "Lal Mirch, I take it?" You nod to the woman without releasing the irritating blond.

Lal nods in response to answer your question. "You must be…Tweety?"

A vein pops on your temple. That idiot had been telling others that, _that_ was her name. You shift your hold and swing the stupid blond into a tree. "I don't tell you my real name, so you go around telling people _that_?" You demand. You click your tongue and turn back to the other woman. "You can just call me JJ for now. You're the head of the COMSUBIN, right?"

Lal nods. "So has what my stupid student told me about you two training together a few years back, true?"

You scratch you head. "Before he started trying for the military and I found a teacher, I guess. But that was a long time ago and I don't really like associating with idiots."

"You lucky then," Lal says with a smirk. "I'm stuck with him because of he's just slightly better than the other cadets."

"You two know you love me!" Colonello chirps, squeezing in between and throwing arm around both of you.

Lal and you move at the same time, elbowing the blond harshly in the gut with enough force combined to send him flying back. The two of you look up and smirk at each other, bonding over a bit of bullying and coming to terms with each other at the very least.

"So what are you guys doing all the way in Japan?" You ask conversationally.

"I also have some work for CEDEF here," Lal tells you, seeing no reason to hide it.

"Ugh, you have to work for Iemitsu? I'm sorry you even have to know that idiot." You sigh and shake your head. "Why are all the blondes I know so stupid?"

"That's your fault for letting yourself become associated with them before researching their backgrounds," Reborn quips, coming up from behind. You can sense that he was feeling smug, but you had no clue why. It's not like he did anything, or you would have noticed.

You shake your head and ignored the hitman, turning back to the other female. "So what does Iemitsu have the nerve to send you to take care of all the way in Japan rather than coming back himself?"

"He asked us to check up on some security details," the woman tells you. You nod. You don't press for details since it wasn't your mission to take care of, plus it would be rude. "Why are you here though, Fēng?"

The martial artist smiled. "I'm here actually just here to visit with Qiăo."

Lal raises an eyebrow. "I'll assume that, that's an Asian based name."

Fēng nodded and turned to look at you. "I suppose I should start calling you JJ as well, or this will start becoming confusing."

You heave a breath and rub your neck wearily. "There have been a lot of people who would normally never come into contact with each other, now meeting up. At this rate I'm going to have to figure out a single name to go by for everyone, which would be a pain. I don't like leaving paper trails like that."

"You won't have to at the rate Iemitsu keeps going around calling you Birdy-chan," Reborn 'casually' informs you with a smirk.

"That idiot needs to learn how to keeps his trap shut," you growl. You look back up at Lal, sensing her curious aura. "What?"

"So you're also the Birdy-chan that idiot keeps yelling about? He's been bragging to everyone that he's adopted a cute new daughter who's also a talented hit woman, and who is looking after his two adorable sons."

"Damn you Iemitsu," you snarl through your teeth, your hand fisted in front of you. You were so pissed off that you were shaking a little. It had been a while since your emotions were so worked up and it drained a lot of your energy. You were lucky that the people nearest to you right now were good at restraining their aura, whether they knew it or not, or you would have been in a world of pain. You sigh. Times like this made your ability too tedious.

Suddenly a heavy aura drops down, forcing you to your knees as you clutch your head. Your barrier was only slightly down, but it felt like a sledgehammer was trying to drive a truck sized wedge into your head. But you know this aura. You fight through your pain until you can locate the origin of the aura, ignoring the hand on your back and the questions of your wellbeing. You push yourself to your feet and take off toward the source. You have to hide your presence and take the long route, just in case one of the others followed you.

You slow down when you're only a short distance away, your gun already out of its holster and at the ready, pointing at your target. You creep quietly out of the shadows behind the person. You know that the person already knows you're there. He probably sensed you from halfway around the world.

"It's good to see you again," the man said quietly.

You tense a little, not enough to throw off your aim, but still enough to reveal how wary of the person you were. The back of your mind takes in the silver sprinkled through the man's black hair you hadn't seen the last time you saw him, showing sure signs of age. But that didn't mean this man was any less dangerous.

The man turns around, letting you see his cold grey eyes. "You've grown, but that was sure to happen whether I noticed or not."

You don't answer. The hairs on the back of your neck felt like they were standing and all the years of training weren't enough to quell the overwhelming sense to run as far away from the person as possible.

"I guess what I mean is that you've made a name for yourself now, on the other hand I knew that would eventually happen too," the man continues as if he doesn't notice your guarded demeanor or the gun pointed straight for his heart. "But I must say that I'm surprised that you're so willing to associate so closely with not only another hitman, but with a mafia don's family. It sounds like you've allowed yourself to become contracted under the Vongola."

You narrow your eyes. That was a ridiculous notion and the man knew it as well. He was just trying to startle a reaction out of you.

"I didn't honestly think you'd be able to smile or show any other emotion for that matter, but a few informants say otherwise. They said they were almost unsure that they had seen correctly, since they had to spy from so far away. Your range of awareness is impressive I must say. But you allowed emotion to cross your face more than enough for them to confirm their observation. It was unanticipated that a little boy would be able to make you grin so much. I suppose that it's understandable that another hitman could irritate you, but this one was a real shocker to me."

You break out into a cold sweat and your heart rate starts to speed up rapidly. There was a clear threat in the undertone of that man's sentence.

"But now you're also working with a bunch who calls themselves the strongest of this century. You're not even one of them, but you're working with them anyways instead of killing at least one of them and claiming their title as your own, and we both know how capable you are of backstabbing someone, aren't we."

You force yourself to breath evenly. If this turns into a fight, and it surely will for what other reason would he seek you out, then you don't want to put another disadvantage on yourself. Adrenaline is already pumping through your veins in anticipation, heightening your awareness.

"What did it feel like to kill your mother with your own hands? Or do you disassociate with that term since you killed her with a gun, so your hands didn't technically touch her."

You could almost sigh out loud. So your suspicions were correct. He wanted revenge after all. But you didn't relax your stance. Even if that was the case, you weren't just going to lie down and let him kill you. That idiot Reborn would find a way to mock and irritate you even in death. You were going to hell anyways, so why rush.

"I didn't expect you to deny my accusations, but I expected at least a few words. Or are you that terrified of me?" The man smirked. "I have always been stronger than you, as it should be considering our age gap, and the position I hold over you is taking its toll as well. So then, are you just shocked that I've come now? Did you expect nothing to happen considering how many years it's been? Or perhaps I came sooner than you could prepare yourself for? You were never good with emotions; even after all that training we put you through. But it's also that training that's going to make you fight for every second of your life."

You don't allow yourself to react, that's just what he wants. He wants some other reason to justify what he was about to attempt.

"Then again, if that was true, then you would have run away the moment you felt my presence. So did you come here to let me kill you, and in doing so, rectify your actions? You're an assassin. You'll be going to hell no matter what you do. Or maybe you regret that kill, so you want to make things better by letting me be the one to end your life. _Or_ do you think you have a chance and you're here to kill me too. There are many plausible possibilities. I wonder which one is the truth."

Before the man even has time to finish his sentence, you are behind him. You break one elbow and use the other arm to drive the man into the ground, indenting the ground with the force. "The truth is that I'm stronger than you now."

The man smiled. It didn't surprise you. His pain tolerance was high, so you broke his joint instead of his radius or ulna to prevent him from being able to fight back with that limb anymore. "Yeah…I know. That's why I got something else prepared."

His aura shifted and you were able to sense another presence. You looked up, but it was already too late.

A shot echoed through the night.

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**Now I know what your're thinking. Bad me, I put in two major cliff hangers. Who is that man/what is his connection to you? And what is your fate? (Go ahead and just call this you, it's a reader insert after all). Now my reasoning behind leaving this sort of ending is: The stupid plot bunny held a gun to my head and made me do it! DX ****...Yeah, I really need to stop reading other people's nonsense author's notes.**

**Reviews are lovely! **


	7. Target 7

**While I'm still tired, I think that the evil plot bunny of doom has figured out that a well rested writer will make for faster and better written stories. I apologize for typos and the like. When I'm able to get a little more sleep in, I'll be sure to go back and fix them. But I think I shall be able to limit my updates to once a week so that I can work on my other stories as well.**

**I wish a very big thank you to: sourapple2000, leena456, xxtoushirou, anna the viking XD, TheKawaiiStar21, and skidney for reviewing! It's good to know that this story is liked and makes me feel better about my past few days of nonstop effort.**

**I hope you enjoy this chapter as well!**

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Target 7

You watch the presence you hadn't sensed, since you were so focused on the man still being held down, fall to the ground and die. You sigh and turn to look at a fourth person, whom you already knew had followed you. "You didn't have to interfere Reborn, I had everything under control."

"Ha." The hitman materializes out of the shadows. "You wouldn't have been able to completely dodge that and you know it."

"It would have just hit my shoulder and then he would have been dead anyways." You shake your head and turn your attention back to the man under you. He didn't seem scared or shocked that you hadn't been killed by his sneak attack. "I never did like any of your games old man."

The man smirked. "It's good to see that your skills have grown so much. It almost makes me proud. But you should just get this over with now."

"Very well…Father." You pull the trigger and then the man's body becomes slack.

You shut down and out all emotions, just staring at the body before you. You were now an orphan, left behind with nothing but the title you were forced to inherit despite your effort to avoid it. You look up when you feel a pressure on your head.

"You dropped this," Reborn says casually, like nothing had just happened.

You're tempted to roll your eyes. "I left my hat behind on purpose, Reborn. I was hoping that you would wait for me to come back."

"But if I had done that, then who would have saved your sorry ass when you failed to finish the job."

Your eyebrow twitches. "Don't treat me like one of those helpless damsels in distress. I promised to make you eat your words all those years ago, now didn't I? I don't plan on dying until I follow through with everything I promised."

"That's another one of your flaws," Reborn reprimands. "As a hitman, it should be expected that not all of your promises can be fulfilled."

"Reborn, I'm a hitman, not a liar." You sigh. "We should get going. I'm sure the others are still hanging around where we left them."

The two of you head back in silence. And though you would never verbally admit it, you found a small amount of comfort for your actions in Reborn's presence. Shortly you two are emerging from the trees and you are met with the sight of another familiar face.

You raise your eyebrows. "Luce?"

The woman turns around and smiles. "It's good to see you again."

"What are you doing here?" You ask, not expecting the woman to appear before you again anytime soon.

"I actually came here with a couple of job requests, as well as a message from Vongola Nono," the woman informs you and hands over a manila folder with the Vongola insignia on its seal.

A vein pops on your forehead as you read through the report. "Oh hell no. I'm not doing this. No matter how much they pay me, I'm _not_ taking this job for Nono."

"What's he asking you to do?" Colonello asks you.

You click your tongue and rub your temples. "He seems to be under the impression that I can work well with others."

"Generally you are, so long as the pay is good," Reborn comments.

"Not with this one. Damn, I can already feel the headache coming on." You're practically grinding your fist into your head by now. "If I hear that idiot's loudmouth friend shout _one more time_, I don't care who I'm working for, I'll kill them all right then and there."

"He wants you to work with them, huh?" Reborn shook his head. "I can't say I blame you for not wanting to take on this one. They even drive _me_ up the wall if I'm with them for more than a few hours."

"Driving me up the wall aside, that loudmouth is going to make me deaf if I stick around for too long," You gripe. With a sigh you turn your attention back to Luce. "What's your job request?"

The woman hands you another folder, which you look over quickly. The job wasn't too difficult. You just had to track down some illusionist and report on their whereabouts as well as their abilities. You were also being asked to bring them in alive if you could, but that would only be if they were responsible for a few thefts that had been occurring in the past few months. You nod. You can take care of this one.

"How long?" Reborn asks, knowing that you have already decided to take at least one of the jobs.

"Two, maybe three months," you estimate. You look back up at Luce. "You also had a message right?"

The woman nodded. "Yes, Nono would like you to stop by so that he can discuss something with you."

You sigh. "In other words, he's trying to corner me into that job. What a sneaky old man."

Luce giggled. "Well, you don't have to meet up with him for a few days and then you can start that other job after that one. So you'll have some time to prepare."

You rub your neck wearily. "What a pain. To many things are happing all at once."

"Well, we have stuff to take care of," Lal announces.

"We'll try to meet up later before you leave," Colonello adds. "If not, we'll probably still be around by time you get back."

You nod and wave goodbye. You kind of wonder if you should smile. But you feel so tired right now. There had been a lot more emotions than you could handle running through you a few moments ago. But at the same time, you could tell that the blond idiot was a little concerned for your wellbeing, considering how you suddenly ran off after probably looking like you were in pain. You sigh a little. He'll probably interrogate you about what happened later. You'll have to come up with a good excuse in the meantime.

"We should probably head back and get in some rest, no?" Fēng brings up. "I'll meet up with you tomorrow, for now I'm heading back to my sister's residence."

Luce nods and smiles. "I shall take my leave as well."

You nod and wave to the two as well. Now it was just you and Reborn. You sigh again. "This was all too cumbersome. Had I known your favor would have led to this, I think I would have tried to find another way to repay you."

"My favor had nothing to do with this," Reborn argues. "That confrontation would have happened no matter where you were."

"Yeah…I guess you're right." You're too tired to put up an argument. Your barrier hadn't been lowered so much in years, and to make it worse, it had been forcibly taken down. As long as that barrier was up, it was difficult for you to show any emotions. But it protected you from the world and the harsh auras of others. It was a literal barrier of emotions. To have it torn down like that was like having you stripped naked in a blizzard and volcanic eruption at the same time.

Reborn must have noticed your fatigue because he didn't make any more comments at your expense, just taking the lead to head back to the apartment. All too sudden you are entering the building and collapsing onto your bed. You don't even remember your head hitting the pillow before you are out like a light.

* * *

You are drawn back into consciousness abruptly when you hear your door open, but you don't open your eyes. More likely than not, it's just one of the Sawada matriarch of the household coming to wake you up. But that theory is proven wrong when you feel the bed dip down at the edge and a little body hoist itself up. You open one eye and look at Tsuna. "Yes, little one?"

"Nee-chan, can I sleep with you for a little bit?" The brunette asks, his voice wavering a little.

"Let me guess, a nightmare and that funny feeling in your tummy at the same time?"

Tsuna nodded.

You yawn and scoot over, pulling the blanket back so the little boy could crawl underneath. "I thought you usually climbed into Giotto or Reborn's bed."

"Don't tell Gio-nii or Reborn, but Nee-chan makes me feel free. And sometimes Tsu-kun likes being with Nee-chan more. Nee-chan gives Tsu-kun the feeling like Nee-chan protecting Tsu-kun, but also letting Tsu-kun do whatever Tsu-kun wants."

Somewhere in the back of the more coherent portion of your brain, there is an evil cackle. Oh how you wished you had caught that on tape so that you could rub it in the jerk's face. But more importantly than that, was the child's was of talking. You tap the little boy's nose. "There was a lot of Tsu-kun's in that sentence. You should start using I, me, myself and all those other terms for referring to yourself. You remember our speech lesson before I left, don't you?"

"Yes Nee-chan. But Mama and Gio-nii says it's cute."

'_Note to self, scold Giotto for reinforcing poor speech habits later._' You sigh. "You'll be cute no matter what you do, Tsuna...Do you want to tell me about your dream?"

The child stiffens and clutches the front of your shirt tighter. "Tsu-kun had a bad dream that Nee-chan got really, really hurt while you were away. Then Nee-chan died and never came back." The little boy started to sniffle and tears appeared on the corners of his eyes. "Even Reborn was really sad, and Reborn _never_ shows that he's unhappy. I don't want Nee-chan to die!"

In the middle of wishing to see what Reborn would look like upset for the sake of blackmail, you become a little worried when the little brunette buries his face into your chest and starts to wail. This wasn't exactly how you planned on sleeping in. You rub the boy's back and hold in another sigh. "I'm not going anywhere little one. Your nee-chan is really strong and won't go down easily."

"You promise?" The little boy whimpers.

'_Too many promises,_' you grumble in your head. But you don't allow any emotions to show through as you gaze at the little boy and nod. "I promise."

Tsuna smiles a little and snuggles into your side. And pretty soon, the two of you are fast asleep.

* * *

Apparently god or whatever deity out there hated you, because not even two hours later you are rudely woken up again.

"Reborn, I think you a fixin' for an early death," you growl, slowly opening your eyes to stare at the stupid gun barrel pointed at your head. "Good morning to you though, Leon."

The lizard transforms back into his normal form and flicks its tongue at you as a greeting. To which Reborn clicks his tongue and mutters 'traitor'. You smirk. Although you don't appreciate being woken up not only earlier than you hoped but also at gun point, you always enjoy trumping the 'world's greatest hitman'.

"Is there any particular reason you felt the need to wake me up in such a rude fashion, or were you just concerned for your godson's wellbeing?" You don't bother to mention your own, since it was more than unlikely that Reborn would care about your health. You chuckle a little when the lightest traces of pink can be seen on the Italian's cheekbones.

Reborn scoffs a little. "He crawled into the bed of nearly emotionless and detached assassin, who wouldn't be worried."

It's your turn to scoff now. "Says the man who forced said assassin to enter the household of the little one. So what do you want anyways?"

"You two need to get up, there's something we're all doing today since you'll be leaving for a while."

You rub your index finger and thumb over your eyes before ending with pinching the bridge of your nose. "And this couldn't have waited for another few hours because…?"

"The weather's good right now, I was already up and felt like it, and it would annoy you." You would have socked that damned smirk off the jerk's face if you could.

You could practically see the heavy purple bags under your eyes. But you sigh and shake Tsuna awake, telling him to go get dressed and meet you in the kitchen. Reborn left along with the small brunette so that you could get ready. Once you were presentable and all traces of your exhaustion were hidden away, you walked over and joined the others at the kitchen table.

You thank Nana when she sets down breakfast in front of you before turning your attention toward the hitman seated next to you. "So what's so important that you had to wake me up, especially after everything that happened last night?"

Reborn's unusually sly smirk is starting to worry you, which is _really_ bad because he hadn't even spoken yet. "Too make up for leaving without saying good bye as well as you leaving in a few days, today you'll be treating these two to the zoo."

…"Eh?"

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**Reviews are lovely!**


	8. Target 8

**Sigh. I couldn't even last the week before updating again. How very pathetic. "OTL But I am no longer allowed to allow the evil plot bunny to run me into the ground. I'd like to avoid having my doctor yelling at me again for disregarding my health...again...**

**Anways~ A BIG thank you to: Tsukuyomi-chan, anna the viking XD, sourapple2000, xxtoushirou, Yellow-Sama, skidney, FreeHugs0009, TheKawaiiStar21, xxOMGgalxx, and Preppy-Stealthy-Ninja! It's great to see this many reviewers and helps feed the plot bunny sedatives so that I can sleep properly! **

**Hope you guys enjoy this chapter as well! The next one will be coming later today as well!**

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Target 8

This….was giving you a headache. You stare at Reborn, refusing to give him the satisfaction of receiving an uncharacteristic reaction from you. That and you're not really sure how to react, except for being tired.

"Eh…?" You finally manage. Wide vocabulary you had there, huh?

"You're taking them to the zoo," Reborn reiterated.

You blink. For some reason your brain isn't processing what the other hitman is saying. Maybe you should just go back to bed.

"I would suggest you not follow through with that thought process or you'll be hard pressed to get any more sleep until the day you leave." Reborn said this in an undertone so that the other two wouldn't be able to hear, his lips barely moving.

"Are you really taking us to the zoo?" Tsuna asked excitedly, his eyes sparkling. You could practically feel the stray glitter around him bouncing off your head.

You turned away, breaking out into a light sweat. That was close. You mustn't look directly into those eyes or you would be trapped. In fact, don't look anywhere within five feet of the child. This is just a hassle and you don't want to agree, but if you look into his eyes, he'll have you doing backflips for him. Don't look. Don't look. Don't look! You squeeze your eyes shut and cover them with your hands. There was a sniffle and your resolve wavered. Crap! You forgot to cover your ears too!

You feel Reborn tap your shoulder. "That's not's going to work, Reborn."

"Ara? What's going on?" Nana asked.

You turn around to look at the woman, only to have a face full of puppy eyed Tsuna shoved in front of you. You could feel the remnants of your will to say no die like a pitiable vampire in sunlight. Its ashes blown away by the wind created from fate whispering 'sucker' repeatedly.

"You _are_ taking us to the zoo today, aren't you Nee-chan?" Although the sentence sounded like a question, you could hear the command behind it as clear as day.

Damn. Reborn had more influence on this boy than you had thought. You should have never let your guard down around him, especially knowing that he was around a manipulative bastard long before you met him. And now you were stuck.

You release a gust of air and press a hand to your forehead. "Heeeaaaaadaaaache~," you growl quietly. Your eye twitches when you see the hitman's triumphant smirk, but you push your thoughts of murder aside and look back up at the waiting boy. "Yes, I'll take you."

"Yay! Thank you Nee-chan!" Tsuna cheers and hugs your neck before running off to his room to get ready.

Giotto smiles as well. "This should be a lot of fun!"

You just bury your head into your arms and mutter curses of death and destruction on the smug idiot still seated beside you. May whatever deity that may or may not exist, better hope you don't get your hands around its neck, or it'll wish it never even met you.

The four of you head out moments later, dressed lightly since it was hot outside. Though, you still wore your regular dress shirt and slacks, like Reborn wore his usual suit, just in a lighter material and colors (lighter colors was only on your part though). Tsuna skipped merrily, caught in between Reborn and Giotto, their hands tightly clasped around then child's.

You didn't like it. Yeah, it was an innocent action on the outside, the two boys were merely protecting the smallest one, but their aura's said otherwise. Their wish was to keep the brunette to themselves, to control him. It was coming off in waves, making your heart rate increase and your stomach churn. It made you feel sick. The possessiveness, the tightfisted hold they were exercising over the child, the greed for his presence. Your hands felt clammy and suddenly you feel desperate to escape. This sort of aura was dangerous. It would result in unseen pain and despair for the victim, and you didn't want to be around when it happened. It was already difficult enough to breath, and you weren't even the intended target. You didn't want to watch another fall to a fate similar to your own.

So you vanish. In a jump unseen by anyone else, you arrive on top of the roofs. The air is crisp and clear up here, and you can no longer feel the horrible auras. But this isn't right either. Guilt, an emotion you hadn't associated with in a long time, but you think that's what you're feeling right now. You feel guilty for leaving Tsuna behind like that. You know that Tsuna could sense it as well. Maybe not to the extent you could, but enough to make him feel scared and have nightmares. His intuition is stronger than the others give him credit for.

You take a deep breath and jump back down, landing in front of the trio. "Tsunayoshi, come here."

It takes a few tugs before the boy manages to free himself and stand before you. You crouch down so that he didn't have to strain himself. "Where'd you go, nee-chan? I looked behind, but you had disappeared."

"I like to be up high," you point up to the roofs.

Reborn snorts lightly. "Just like the stupid bird nickname that you continue to deny."

You glare a little, but overall ignore the teen. You turn around so that your back faced the child. "Climb on."

Tsuna tilts his head in question.

You smile the slightest amount. "I'll carry you on my back to the zoo." The child lights up like a Christmas tree and scrambles on, much to your amusement. "Hold on tightly."

Before the other two could argue, you jump up again and run over the roofs. You thought that the small brunette would scream in fright and beg you to slow down, but he squeals in delight instead. The child's laughter and giggles are contagious, and you find yourself smiling as well. The air was your domain. It offered you the freedom and peace that the people on the ground did not.

"Nee-chan, how come people can't see us?" Tsuna asks.

You could almost laugh at the child's bluntness. It truly was amazing how much his intuition could tell him sometimes. "I'm using an illusion to hide us. Even Reborn can't see us right now, though he would still be able to find us if he really tried." You jump down from the roof tops and let the two of your appear in the crowd at the zoo entrance.

You feel Tsuna's arms tighten and look over your shoulder. "Thanks you nee-chan."

Your eyes soften. Tsuna's intuition probably told him the reasons behind your actions, which would explain why he didn't question you. You turn away to look for the hitman and his student, muttering, "it was no problem," back softly so that he would be the only one to hear.

* * *

To say that Reborn was displeased with your actions would be a major understatement. However, you didn't care. Instead, you respond to his scolding and glares by pulling down your lower eyelid and sticking out your tongue. Normally, this could have nearly killed you, but at that moment you still had Tsunayoshi on your back. Reborn hand twitches in the obvious, 'I really want to shoot you' action, so you give the proper reply by sticking out your tongue again and giving him the peace/victory sign. You knew that Reborn found it irritating when you made faces without any emotions behind them. He was always telling you that one day another child would pick it up as well, but that was a ridiculous notion in your opinion (which is why you both put a thousand euros down as a bet).

After a short argument, consisting of whispered shouts, Tsunayoshi was returned to the ground and placed (trapped) in between his older brother and godfather once more. You purse your lips, but can do nothing about it right now, so you'll have to let it go. You can read from the youngest one that he wants to make the other two happy, which is why he doesn't complain, but he really wanted to run around as he pleased. It really wasn't fair to him.

So you do what any other caring illusionist would do, and switch the little one with an illusion of himself and runs away with the real one. You just had to wait till they were moving away from the reptile room, then 'bump' into the two, where you performed your little magic trick in the safety of darkness and ran like hell was after you, which it probably was with how mad Reborn was going to be. You two only had about a five minute head start (if you were lucky) before Reborn would notice, and then it would be a very dangerous and maybe even suicidal game of cat and mouse. The majority of your thoughts from that point were, '_Run bitch, run!_'

But Tsunayoshi, being the kind and overly caring (to the point of hurting himself) one, decided that they shouldn't disobey Reborn and just get ice cream and wait for the hitman and his brother to come. The little one sat on your lap and chatted away about everything and anything while licking his strawberry cone. Sooner than you had hoped, Reborn arrives. But he decides to be nice and let Tsuna walk around the zoo with you.

To which you reply with you gun raised (covered in mist flames so that only the four of you can see it), "who are you and what have you done with Reborn. Scratch that. I congratulate you and wish to offer you a reward for ridding me of the bane of my existence."

Reborn scowls and flicked your forehead. Sadly, with Tsunayoshi on your lap you cannot evade such a simple blow. "You should learn how to offer gratitude correctly when someone is being nice."

"I do. Just not to you." You shake your head. "You probably want to 'train' Giotto and find the animal that fits him best, right?"

Reborn smirks. "We'll meet you in front of the fountain in two hours."

You sigh. Poor, poor Gio. It may not be enough that he took off running the moment Reborn and training were uttered in the same sentence. "Just be sure that you don't drag the two of us into your mess. You owe me at least that much for waking me up without the required amount of sleep to rebuild my barrier."

Reborn nodded then headed off with obvious sadistic-Spartan-demon-tutor-enjoying-the-hell-out-of-torturing-his-student glinting in his eyes.

"Should we follow to make sure Gio-nii will be okay?" Tsuna asks worriedly, looking up and over his shoulder at you.

You wave the child's words away. "No way. It would be way too troublesome and Reborn might take that chance to 'train' you as well."

The small brunette shuddered. "Good point. Then can we go see the lions next?" Tsuna asked cheerfully, completely setting his big brother's wellbeing to the very back corner of his mind.

* * *

It was nearing the two hour mark, so you and Tsuna head back over to the fountain. Tsuna plays around, chasing after the birds, while you sat on the fountain edge to watch. It was peaceful and a nice break from the everyday world of attacks that you had grown used to. Then again, by the suddenly half empty zoo and sense of foreboding entangling in your stomach, perhaps you spoke too soon.

A familiar shift of movement to your right was all it took for you to dive forward and pull Tsuna into the safety of your arms. You hide your forms in a coating of mist flames and take off running to the set of bushes, hiding the child there.

"Don't come out until I come to get you alright?" You whisper hurriedly, barely waiting for the boy to nod. "And don't make a sound. Stay hidden."

You make yourself appear a distance away from the bushes, just in case, and take out your guns. It's a simple matter to take out these wannabe assassins. None of them are even close to someone of your caliber. These idiots really didn't have any choice but drop like the flies they were. Several were incapacitated with a quick flick of your wrist, which led to their arms and legs being broken, so that you could interrogate them later before sending them back to their boss as a warning. It helped that the remaining civilians had run away, so you didn't have to hold back or fight in a way that would keep you concealed.

"Drop your weapon!" You turn around to face the fountain, where one of the few remaining thugs stood, too see one of the assassins holding up Tsuna in front of him. "Drop your guns or I'll shoot this kid, and you wouldn't want to draw any civilians into this would you?"

You glare at the man, your eyes darting between him and the child as you assessed the situation. The man was holding Tsuna up to hide his head and chest, while pointing a gun at the child's head. You could always just shoot his legs, but the guy could squeeze the trigger in pain, resulting in Tsuna's death. You narrow your eyes. Well this sucked. Where the hell was that idiot when you needed him? You take a deep breath and raise your heads, guns disappearing to who knows where.

The man smirked, but didn't lower the child. "Good. Now you're going to come with us nice and quiet."

A couple of thugs come up hesitantly and bind your hands. You can tell that they fear you, but that fear stems from your recent display of abilities and not your reputation. None of them have any clue as to who you are, and are just taking you captive as a precaution. However, they also don't know who the child they are kidnapping is either. This confuses you because why else would they be here? Giotto and Reborn weren't nearby, otherwise you wouldn't be stuck in this position right now, so who were they trying to kill?

You're tempted to sigh again. This was such a pain. And this is exactly why you hate 'family' outings.

* * *

**Oh dear! What ever shall happen! You'll find out pretty soon actually.**

**Reviews are lovely!**


	9. Target 9

**Voila! Another chapter for you! I held off a little longer than I said I would because I wanted to move some things around. But here you go now!**

**SUPER GRANDE THANK YOU to: Autore Raita, TheKawaiiStar21, sourapple2000, xxOMGgalxx, LadyDream3512, skidney, Zehava, and anna the viking XD! I apologize for not replying to each of you individually like one of my other stories, but when I started this I didn't have time since I was just getting everything out and it seems a little ridiculous to start now. But if you want me to, let me know in your review.**

**Hope you guys enjoy this chapter as well!**

* * *

Target 9

Your head is knocked to the side for the umpteenth time, as the man slaps you again. '_Yeah. Keep it up. Keep asking me nonspecific questions and I'll quiver in fear of your hand and spill everything I know about the subject you won't tell me about,_' you think sarcastically, spitting to get the blood from your cut lip out.

You were currently bound to a chair with rope in a dimly lit room of some random warehouse you don't really care about. They had taken Tsuna away to another room and you were waiting for the man who took him away to come back before you made your next move.

"Tell us everything you know!" The man shouted.

You sigh internally. What a pain, what a pain~. "Okay. We live on the planet called Earth and is a part of the solar system, which is a series of eight plants that circle around that big shiny thing in the sky, called the sun."

SLAP! "Don't get smart with us bitch! Now spill, or we'll have to move onto our other torture devices."

'_Is _that_ what you call your scare tactics? I've seen Chihuahuas more frightening than you._' You're tempted to shake your head at the men.

"What family are you from?" The man demanded.

"I believe there were a mother and a father," you reply.

"Why are you here?"

"It's a zoo. Those places tend to be for recreational visiting, are they not?"

"Who sent you?"

"I wasn't aware that I needed permission to leave home from daddy."

The man kicks you in the stomach, but you don't give any reaction besides doubling over a little. He smirks. "You're definitely a professional hitman, though you were easy to catch, so you must be someone new."

'_If only you knew, you complete moron._' That other man better come back soon. You were losing your patience with these idiots.

"But we know how to get your kind talking." The man pulled out a knife, just as the other one came back into the room.

"You got me!" You cry out dramatically, cringing in your seat. "You found my weakness! It's small knives! Oh woe is me! How will I ever be able to protect myself!...Oh, I know."

You lean back and kick the person away, pushing yourself into a bent standing position and head butting another thug. You roll to the side, opening your arms in a circle to avoid the corners of the chair cutting into you, to avoid the gunfire. Then you smash the chair into the man standing by the door, consequentially breaking the chair as well as a few of his ribs. You then take the shards and throw them with enough force to impale a couple other men. Last of all you run up to the man who had been kicking, slapping, and punching you for the past half hour and punch him in the face, breaking his nose. He looked up at you in horror.

You tap your hand against your head lightly, holding the switchblade in front of you. "Silly me. That was actually so simple."

The man promptly passed out.

You shake your head and walk out of the room. Imbeciles, all of them.

You walk casually down the hallway, shooting anyone you see before they even had a chance to register who you were. It wasn't long till you reached the room with Tsuna's fearful aura. You peek inside and see that there is another dozen of men guarding the area. It was truly pathetic that they needed so many of their members to keep an eye on a kid.

You pull yourself out of sight, and pull out a second gun. "Hey, little one! Do you trust me?" You call out, your back pressed against the wall.

"Un!"

You smirk. "Then close your eyes and count to ten. Don't open them until you finish, got it?"

"Un!"

You take out the first few guys that had been running up to the door before focusing your weapons on the others, taking them out quickly. There was a soundproof barrier, made out of your mist flames, around the child so he wouldn't hear you killing so many. You snapped the necks of a couple that tried to use Tsuna as a shield, but stuck to your artillery for the most part. Just as Tsuna was opening his eyes, you had picked him up and exited the room. He never even caught a glance of your handy work.

"Nee-chan, are you okay?" Tsuna asked worriedly, placing a hand near your cut lip.

"Huh. Forgot about that. You wanna see a magic trick?" You ask the boy. When he nods, you lift a hand to cover your lip and applied a small amount of your sun flames, then pulled away to reveal that you were completely healed. "Ta da."

It didn't really sound that spectacular since you didn't sing out the stupid jingle like most would, but Tsuna smiled brightly and cheered nonetheless. He is just as amazed when you heal his rope burns just as quickly and demands to know your trick to which you reply 'a magician never reveals their secrets'.

When the two of you exit the warehouse, you are confronted with the sight of Reborn, Giotto, Fēng, Colonello, and Lal. All of you freeze and stare at each other in shock.

"Yo," you say to break the shocked silence.

But, perhaps this was unwise as you now had to dodge a series of bullets, courtesy of a very pissed off Reborn. It was a good thing that you had set Tsuna down just before you had exited the building.

"Reborn! Stop!" Tsuna shouts and latches onto the arm holding the hitman's gun, after pulling himself away from his older brother.

You had been in a handstand and with a twirl you flip back into a normal standing position. "Not exactly the welcome back I had expected, but it's nice to know you care and didn't panic," you say sarcastically.

"How could you pull such a mean prank!" Giotto accuses.

You deadpan. "I get beaten up for half an hour and this is the reception I get? Nice to know you guys are confident about my behavior."

"What happen?" Lal decides to ask.

You stretch your neck in the hopes of cracking it to relieve some tension, but find yourself unsuccessful. "I dunno. I think it was that group you two were watching for. They attacked us at the zoo, so I started taking care of the threat since I didn't want Tsunayoshi getting hurt. But one of them caught the little one and used him as a shield, so I had to give myself up. Then we ended up here where they used the crappiest interrogation techniques I've ever seen, only for me to beat the living daylights out of them when Tsunayoshi was out of sight. Honestly, I haven't seen so many 'interrogation _don'ts_' since I read that mafia history book written from a few hundred years ago, and even _that_ had better tactics."

Colonello laughed. "So where are they? Lal and I need to take them in for interrogation."

"Sorry about that then, but they're all…" you make a slashing motion across your neck.

"All of them!" Colonello asked incredulously. "Man, what's got you so pissed off?"

"Five of them hit me, two of them tied me up, and eleven of them took Tsunayoshi away from me," you list off. "The rest just pissed me off for working with a bunch of idiots like that and I had a hit for at least three of them that I was going to have to take care of in the next six months anyways."

"You should really try meditating more to work out that aggression," Fēng scolded lightly.

You look up and tap you chin with you index finger. "Hmm…There was no aggression, I was just feeling a bit on the sadistic side today…I think I've been spending too much time with Reborn as of late."

The hitman shook his head with an amused smirk. "Don't go blaming me for something you would have done anyways."

Giotto shivered. "I never knew you could be so scary and…Reborn-like."

A vein pops on your forehead as you deadpan. You flick the younger blonde's forehead. "Don't relate me to that sadistic idiot. He and I are nothing alike."

Reborn rolled his eyes. "Let's head back already. I'm sure mama will start worrying soon otherwise."

"I'll catch up with you guys later," you say with a small wave.

Reborn's eyes narrowed minutely. "What do you mean?"

"I already had prior arrangements with Fēng," you point at the martial artist, "which he kindly pushed back so that I could take Tsuna and Giotto to the zoo. And since that's over and done with, I'm going to spend the rest of my day with him."

You notice a twitch from Reborn's lips, like he is about to grimace. You have no idea why he dislikes Fēng so much though. He was such an easy going and charismatic guy, and you actually enjoyed his presence, so why did Reborn have to throw such a…fit?

"Fine," the hitman finally replied stiffly. "We'll see you when you get back."

You nod. "You do that." The remaining four of you watch as the trio leaves.

Lal sighs a little. "Colonello and I will wait for the cleanup crew then."

"I could help if you like," you offer. After all, you did leave a mess behind and you had enough proper etiquette to clean up after yourself.

Lal holds up her hand and shakes her head. "This was part of my mission anyways. Thanks for your help though."

You nod as well. "Then I shall take my leave too."

With that you and Fēng head off.

* * *

You sigh a little and open the door quietly. It was actually quite late. You hadn't been expecting come back after so long.

"About time."

You resist the urge to groan and look up at the table where Reborn is seen waiting up for you. "Why are still up Reborn?"

"Waiting for you to come back. I should think that was obvious." Despite his words, there was no humor in his tone.

"And pray tell, why would you do that?" You question halfheartedly. You don't really care for the answer, but the sooner Reborn vented, the sooner you could go to bed.

"Because you are also one of the guardians here and Tsuna, not to mention Giotto, would be highly upset if you never came back. You're known to sneak away in the nights after all." Reborn's gaze is hard and it feels like he's trying to look into your very soul.

You sigh. "One, I'm not a guardian; Two, they shouldn't miss me too much. I'm still practically a stranger to them. They know my name and profession, but nothing else."

Reborn's guarded body language and strange aura throws you off. It's like he's trying to say something, but at the same time he's holding himself back. "Tomorrow is parent teacher day. I'll be going to Giotto's school with mama, so we think you should go to school with Tsuna."

You shrug. "Alright. I have no qualms with that. I've been meaning to see the faces of Tsuna's bullies anyways. It's about time they had a few warnings about harming the little one."

"And you say you aren't a guardian," Reborn scoffs. He pauses, while staring at you, like he's trying to find something. "So what did you and Fēng do?"

You shake your head. Guess you should have seen this coming. "We went to a café to talk and catch up a little, then we hit a movie, got some dinner, and then hung out at the park to discuss what we think might be happening in the near future."

There's a twitch of the nose, like he's about to grimace, but then he smirks. "Sounds like a date to me."

"Really? Then darn. I missed my chance to hold hands, hug, and get a doorstep kiss." You snap your fingers in mock disappointment. Your voice was practically dripping sarcasm.

Reborn rolls his eyes, but you can tell that his mood has lightened a little.

"So what sort of torture did you put Giotto though at the zoo?" You ask, seating yourself across from the man.

A genuine smirk comes out at last. "I released a bunch of animals and made Giotto round them up. We were trying to find the animal that fit him most."

You fold on arm close to you and use your other to prop you head up on your pal. "Oh? And did you find his corresponding animal?"

"I was thinking lions."

"Ara? Really? That's Tsuna's favorite and I thought it fit him quite well." You flick your hat lightly so that its brim was a little higher.

Reborn frowned a little. "A lion would be too dangerous for Tsuna. Something like a rabbit is more suited to him."

"You think so?" You gaze at the other, pretending to be bored but you're sure that he could see the intensity in your eyes. "I think he really is like a lion. You just have to give him the chance to roar and show his fangs. I believe that Tsunayoshi would make an excellent leader one of these days, and an even better friend."

"But it won't be in the mafia," Reborn intrudes.

You almost roll your eyes. "Why bother telling him that his family is associated with the mafia if you're just going to keep him out of it?"

"He should know the truth, but that doesn't mean we'll put him in danger like that."

At this, you sigh. What a truly exasperating bunch. "If that is how you see fit. Now if you'll excuse me, I'd like to get in a little shut eye before tomorrow. I'm still weary from yesterday. Night."

"Goodnight."

You don't have to turn around to know that Reborn's eyes are following you.

You smile a little when you close your door and turn around. There's a lump on your bead with poofy brown hair resting on your pillow. You quickly change and climb into the bed next to the small child.

The movement woke the small child, who yawned and rubbed on of his eyes with a little fist. "Welcome back, nee-chan."

You can't help but smile again and pull the child into a soft embrace. "Why are you here little one?"

"I wanted to sleep with nee-chan again because nee-chan will scare away all nightmares since nee-chan is so strong," Tsuna mumbles, already going back to sleep.

You tighten you hold a little and bury your face into the child's soft tresses. "Alright. Goodnight Tsuna."

Tsuna wiggles himself into a comfortable position, trying to get as close as possible. "Goodnight nee-chan."

* * *

**I decided to end this with a little Tsuna cuteness ;)**

**Hope you liked it! Reviews are lovely!**


	10. Target 10

**Sigh, I'm really pathetic aren't I. It still hasn't been a week, yet here is another chapter. Siiiiggh~ (_ _)"**

**Anyways I wish a thank you to: sourapple2000, KagamineRin81, skidney, ReaderWorm101, TheKawaiiStar21, leena456, xxOMGgalxx, LadyDreams3512, the-angry-blob, Eggbert3000, xxtoushirou, anna the viking XD, and Preppy-Stealthy-Ninja!**

**There are a few things I want to address though.**

**To the-angry-blob: I know that the most commonly used version of the storm Arcobaleno's name is Fon (which is why I use that spelling in my other stories) however in this story I decided to use the spelling given from his heritage. Like in the chapter I introduced him in, the literal translation for the Chinese name that stands for wind is Fēng (风). But it'll change to Fon later on, but you're just have to wait and see. ;)**

**To Eggbert3000 and anna the viking XD: Yay! You noticed! I actually had something similar before that dealing with a needle instead, but after I saw the commercial I just _had_ to change it to that and see how many others noticed. ^^**

**Moving on, I hope you enjoy this chapter!**

* * *

Target 10

Tsuna skips by your side while holding tightly to your hand. This means that you have to work extra hard to make sure the child doesn't trip or runs into anything, but you don't complain. It was actually quite amusing.

This morning when the plans for the day were relayed to Tsuna and Giotto, the brunette had tackled you, almost sending you to the ground from the force. You had been nursing your precious mug of coffee while trying to get the remnants of out of your system (you have officially spent too many days in civilian territory for you to have become this soft). Tsuna had then made a mad dash to his room and gotten ready in record time, which was two hours before school started when it was only a fifteen minute walk.

"I'm so happy you're coming with me today!" Tsuna cheered. "Mama usually goes to Gio-nii's school and then there's usually not enough time to make it to my class."

You frown internally at this. You didn't think Nana was the type to leave her youngest out like this. "Doesn't she switch off every year?"

Tsuna stopped skipping and looked down sadly. "Well this is my first parents' visitation day, so I thought she would come… But that's okay! I have you nee-chan!"

You place a hand over your heart. You had felt this strange tightening feeling in your chest and you weren't completely sure what it was. Perhaps you needed to get a checkup? But you smile at the small child anyways. "I'm glad that I'm able to be the one to attend your first parents' day."

Tsuna smiles even brighter and starts telling you about his class, his teacher, their activities, their playground, his classmates, the other students, the other staff, his desk, and on and on.

You keep smiling, but sweat drop a little at the information load. You've heard most of the things he's telling you more than once, but you let him continue because you don't want to be the one to kill his happy streak. But the little boy is so preoccupied that he doesn't notice the curb and slips. You quickly swing the child up into the air and catch him.

The small brunette laughed. "That was a lot of fun! Thanks nee-chan!"

You smile slightly and bop the child on the nose softly. "Be more careful next time."

"That was pretty pathetic, even for you dame-Tsuna!"

The child in your arm flinches at the nickname and you direct a glare (and possibly a bit of killing intent) toward the voice that had harassed the little one. You spot the little idiot right away. He looked like and ugly little pug pig hybrid and was holding his mother's hand.

"Oh boys. There just so rowdy aren't they?" The woman says with a smile and a hand on the side of her face. She was completely unapologetic.

"_Excuse_ me?" You hiss.

"Don't worry about it. Boys will be boys after all," the woman says.

You bristle angrily. Boys will be boys! What type of sorry excuse was _that_! You open your mouth the give the woman a good piece of your mind, and maybe introduce her to your good friend the gun, when you feel a tug on your collar.

"It's okay nee-chan…I'm used to it," Tsuna says quietly.

All fight drains out of you and you focus your attention on the small child in your arms. You set him on the ground and hug the small thing. "You are most certainly _not_ used to it, nor should you ever be, Tsunayoshi. They obviously haven't taken the time to get to know you, or they'd know how wonderful you are. Besides, I don't want you to ever take such insults from ugly little pugletts." Tsuna broke out into a fit of laughter from your title for the brat. You ruffle his hair and stand up, taking his hand once more. "Now lead me to your class."

Tsuna, in a good mood once again, tugs you toward his class and sits down excitedly while you line up in the back with the rest of the mothers. You lean against the wall in the corner to try to avoid standing near the other women, who knows how many of them had rotten children too? Most of them were eyes you anyways, assuming (without even bother to ask) that you were a teen mom. Your suspicion is confirmed when they start whispering loudly, wondering who your kid was. The stupid idiots.

The door slides open and a man walks in, signaling the start of class when he stands at the podium. "My apologies. Suzuki-san is out sick, so I will be filling in for today. My name is Akimoto Daiki." The substitute's eyes trail over the females in the back with poorly hidden hunger. You are disgusted when his gaze lingers on you.

The class is no better. It is obvious that they are picking Tsuna to answer the most difficult questions that many of the other students didn't know either. You could tell by their apprehensive auras and the uncertainty written all over their face. The mothers are no better, snickering loud enough for others to hear and saying how 'grateful' they were that they did have such a stupid child. Finally, you snap.

You send a pencil flying, imbedding itself in the wall next to the teacher's head. And glare at the man, causing him to quiver in fear. The other parents whisper, trying to figure out where that pencil came from, but neither you nor the teacher speaks up. The lesson continues and you start impaling the student's desks as well. For the exceptionally bad cases where you had to send more than one pencil into a desk, you started aiming closer and closer to their persons. When that wasn't enough, you started throwing pink erasers. They would probably get brain damage later if they didn't get their injuries taken care of properly.

But it appeared that even _that_ wasn't enough of a hint. After one final attack, where a kid actually pushed Tsuna out of his seat, you punched the wall to keep yourself from killing the little insect. The parents gasped and stared at the massive crater in fear.

"Oi, if you don't stop picking on Tsunayoshi then you may have to call the morgue. And you sorry excuses for parents. How _dare _you openly mock another person's child? No wonder you have such fat useless _scum_ for a brat offspring," you growl. "How can you just _stand there_ and let your little _merda_ of a son physically _hurt_ another? Have you no shame? And here I was told that your kind held great honor. Obviously this school has none."

"Wow. You have a lot of guts to say that in my school, not to mention destroying school property." You turn to see a child maybe a couple of years older than Tsuna with black hair and slanted steel colored eyes. The child pulls out a couple of tonfas. "For that, I shall bite you to death."

The children whisper 'Hibari' and start shaking in even greater fear.

A hand descends on the boy's shoulder and restrains him from attacking. "Stand down Kyoya. She is carnivore and way out of your league."

You follow the hand to the owner. It was one of Giotto's friends, Alaude, who you met at the child's birthday party. Your rage quells for a moment as you take in how similar they were, but then returns full blast when you remember why you were so pissed off.

"You punish ignorant and sorry-excuses-for-a-human-type herbivores, correct?" You ask, pointing to the group of parents.

"Why?" It was Alaude who asked.

"_Every single __**one of them**_ was ganging up on Tsunayoshi. They were a weak pack of herbivores crowding together so that they could appear stronger." There was the possibility that you were shaking, you were so angry.

"Oh?" The younger Hibari raised his eyebrow to that and grinned viciously. "Then I shall bite them to death."

Alaude smirked as well. "Then you take the students and I'll take the parents. You take the teacher." The last part was directed toward yourself.

You smirked and turned toward the cowardly fool while cracking your knuckles. "My pleasure."

* * *

"Nee-chan, you shouldn't have hurt everyone like that?" Tsuna scolded, eyeing the smoldering pile of people behind you.

"Then they shouldn't have picked on you like that," you tell the boy uncaringly. Reborn would probably accuse you of sulking like a little kid, but he wasn't here right now so who cares. "Besides, I wiped their memory of today. All that'll remain is the feeling of intense fear whenever they pick on a child like that again."

Tsuna sighed exasperatedly. He seemed to be able to tell that he wasn't going to get through to you about this matter. "I thought nee-chan wasn't the type to attack others like Reborn."

"As your nee-chan, I have the right to massacre whole countries if they hurt you," you tell the boy. Not that you actually would. It was too much of a hassle. Plus there would be a lot of cleaning up to do, and you don't like cleaning up huge loads.

Tsuna sighed again, shaking his head with his hands on his hips. But when he looked up at you, he giggled. He hugged your leg with a happy smile. "Thank you nee-chan."

You smile a little. "Well, since we have the rest of today off, let's go get some ice cream!"

"Yay!"

* * *

You yawn as you step off the plan. It was so annoying that you had to return to Italy. You really just wanted to remain behind so that you could continue you self-appointed mission of slipping all of Tsuna's bullies food poisoning. But Vongola Nono was waiting for you and it would be a pain to land yourself on the Vongola's hit list, so here you were. You walk over to the waiting car and hop into the driver's seat, speeding away down the streets faster than what was probably allowed. But hey, if the cops can't catch up to you, or trail you for that matter, then who cares. You're mafia after all.

Although, you regret that decision when you are parked outside of the Vongola mansion. You should have taken you time since you _really_ don't want to be here. You can already feel more than one annoying aura shifting around somewhere inside.

You sigh, but step out of the vehicle. No use in stalling the inevitable.

You move purposely through the mansion, ignoring the stares and whispers that came with you presence in most areas of Europe. Your consolation is that Reborn had it _way_ worse than you. Not only did he get the stares and whispers, but also those ugly whores that would practically throw themselves at him. Most men didn't want to flirt with a woman that was as strong or stronger than them, so you at least didn't have to deal that sort of crap.

You sigh a little and stop walking. "Sure. Keep pointing that at me and maybe _one_ day I'll actually be scared," you call out sarcastically. You turn around to face a small tanned, raven haired boy, pointing a 9 mm pistol at you. "And how are you Xanxus?"

"Tch. So you came back, trash," the child scoffed and stored away his weapon.

You shrug. "Had to happen eventually, brat. Your father pays well after all." You decide to ignore whatever else the brat has to say and continue toward your ultimate destination.

"So what job is it this time?" Xanxus demands, following you toward his father's office.

You grimace. "Don't you have lessons right now?"

"I'm Vongola Nono's son and the next Varia leader. I don't _have_ to do anything."

You sigh again. What a cumbersome day. "Right. Well I have no clue, I was asked to meet up with Nono, so that's what I'm doing."

The two of you walk into the Don's office (after you knocked) and you took your position in front of the desk, while Xanxus threw himself onto the couch. You try not to sigh again, since you were really hoping that the kid would leave you alone.

"Good afternoon, Nono," you greet.

The old man nods with an amused glint in his eyes. "Thank you for coming. Would you like something to drink?"

You hold up a hand. "No thank you. Please just cut to the chase." It was your policy not to drink anything offered by other mafia families as it would be a hassle to make sure that it wasn't poisoned every single time.

Nono nodded, already expecting this. "Well, as I sent in that file, I would like you to consider the mission of accompanying Xanxus and his friend's-"

"They're not friend's, they're trash," the boy interjected.

But Nono continued as if he hadn't spoken. "To the given destination an back."

You're tempted groan and slap a hand over your eyes. "Nono, that sounds like a babysitting job. I'm an assassin, I don't watch over kids."

"Reborn and Iemitsu has told me that you have done an excellent job of watching over Giotto-kun and Tsunayoshi-kun."

You blink, digesting the Japanese suffix added into Italian dialect, but brush it off in favor of the whole message. "That was a favor for Reborn. Besides, there is not enough money in the_ world_ that could pay me enough to spend more than five minutes with all the brats gathered together."

"Ushishishi~"

A vein pops on your forehead at the sickeningly familiar laugh. '_Dear Lord. I think I deserve a refund for my life right about now._'

"Nono, you better tell me whatever else you have to say about that matter or anything else in the next 14 seconds or you're going to have to _pay_ me to stay here on top of the fees that'll come with the destruction of your mansion," you inform the old man. "I don't need another literal royal pain in the ass today, and I don't think you want to see how I deal with the two of them either."

"Ushishishi~ Flutter-chan has come back to play with the prince."

You resist the urge to slam your head into a wall repeatedly. This day just got a _whole_ lot longer.

* * *

**Reviews are lovely!**


	11. Target 11

**Here's another chapter! Just to warn you guys, this one is going to be a little jumpy. 'You' are moving through time a little faster as we head to the main event, which shall take place soon, but in another couple of chapters.**

**I want to say a BIIIIIIIIIG THANK YOU to: Tsukuyomi-chan; xxtoushirou; xxOMGgalxx; skidney; Meisa-tan; sourapple2000; Preppy-Stealthy-Ninja; starred; Amplifying Loud; leena456; Eggbert 3000; anna the viking XD; Minnie Monie Moe; tazdevil for reviewing! They were great and as a reward (and a product of an overactive brain during the black out) I have another chapter that I shall wait to put out in a couple of hours!**

**To your questions:**

**Preppy-Stealthy-Ninja: Yes! The rest of the tenth generation gang shall be showing up! Just give it a bit and 'you' shall have an amusing reaction when you find out. ;)**

**starred: I'll take a look. I may have started reading it and then faded out because of my own stories and school. If I have then I promise that I'll continue soon, I've just been busy!**

**tazdevil and any others wondering this: Romance...maybe. Like in the summary, I'm not sure. Reborn is just possessive. But there's also a special sort of bond that you shall learn in the next chapter that explains a little bit about their relationship.**

* * *

Target 11

"Ushishishi." A little skinny boy wearing a tiara on the side of his head barged into the room. He immediately ran over to the chair next to you, jumped up, and started to pull on your cheeks.

'_Somewhere, deep, __**deep**__, __**deep**__ down in that cold black hole in your chest, there has to be some sort of positive _human_ emotions. So you need to combine what little there is with the patience you built up for your profession and keep yourself from killing the little brats,_' you instruct yourself. You've long since mastered the art of keeping an unemotional face in place, so that wasn't one of the issues. "Belphagor. I didn't think I would ever see you again. Why aren't you in your own country, terrorizing your own citizens and family? And while we're at it, where's your brother? Is he here too?"

"Ushishishi. I killed my family and everyone in the castle. I'm a member of the Varia now," the child informs you while still pulling and pinching your cheeks.

Okay. So only one brat from that country to deal with…That was a little better…right?

"VOOOOII!"

No. Not good enough.

"There you are, shitty boss!" A child with white hair, sort of sticking out around his head, brandishing a double edge sword came into the room along with a couple others.

You click your tongue and move Belphagor's hands away from your face so that you could speak properly. "Such foul language for one so young. Not to mention you seem to have gotten louder since the last time we met, Squalo."

"VOOOOII! So you're here as well shitty woman!" The white haired child waved his sword around dangerously as he yelled.

"Mou! Who is this?" One of the other children who entered asked. He had a red Mohawk and green bangs. He also had a very…flamboyant personality.

You had the urge to slap your face. The older kids were a couple years older than Giotto, yet they were already developing strange habits and personalities. What did kids watch on TV these days?

Nono chuckled and held a hand directed toward you. "This is-"

"Don't use that stupid nickname that idiota bionda gave me or I'll walk out of here right now," you threaten lightly before the man could utter the dreaded pet name. You can tell by his aura of amusement that that was exactly what he was going to use.

The old man laughed lightly again. He apparently decided that it would be in his and the other's best interest if he used the name he fed his adopted son and his other friends. "Then this is Elda."

Elda is an Old Italian form of the German name Hilda, meaning battle. Nono had thought of it during one of your first meeting with him and ended up using it when Xanxus had met you, meaning barged into the office during your meeting, and it had stuck ever since…Well, at least in the Vongola base.

"Elda is a freelance hit woman whom I call on a few time as she is a capable assassin," Nono continued. "You may know her better as the Mockingbird."

The flamboyant child squealed in delight. "So you're the cute little honey that's rumored to be able to work with that delicious hunk Reborn!"

Your eye twitches and you nearly shiver in disgust. There were _so_ many things wrong with that sentence.

"Elda, these are also Xanxus's friends: Lusseria and Levi. They just joined us recently," Nono informed you.

Wait…Xanxus's friends…Babysitting job…Oh _hell_ no! You turn back around to the old man with a full on glare. "Nono, I'm definitely not taking that job. One, maybe. Two, you're pressing your luck. Three, I'd rather shoot myself. But _five_. No way in the ever loving bloody bowls of hell. There's not enough money on earth that could persuade me to watch over these kids for a week."

Nono smiled. "Well…I might have something that would change your mind…"

Oh snap, that wasn't a good sign. You could feel dread dredging up in your stomach.

* * *

'_You're not allowed to kill them. You're not allowed to kill them. You are _not_ allowed to kill them._' You have now been chanting this to yourself for three and a half hours. If it weren't for the fact that your hard head would damage the interior or the windows of the vehicle you were stuck in, you would have been slamming your head against them right about now. You took out your gun and pointed its barrel at your head. Death would be better than this. No! No, no, no, no, no. You still had things to do…Maybe you could just slam the butt of the bun against your head repeatedly…

"VOOOOOII! Are we there yet?"

"Ushishishi. The prince is tired of driving. Speed up or die." Belphagor threatened the driver with a couple of knives.

Speaking of the driver. The poor man was nearly at the point of wetting himself. Not to mention the crazy, psychopathic, and dangerous kids in the back, he had to deal with your overwhelming aura of doom and destruction flowing out in suffocating waves from the passenger seat (You had refused point blank to sit in the back with the annoying brats).

You sigh and cut off your overflowing aura, focusing on an empty and peaceful mind. This was a good time to practice mediating, as Fēng was constantly nagging you to do. It's not like these were the worst subjects you've ever had to guard. You were just tired. Jet lag always made itself more evident when you were around extra loud little kids…that were perfectly capable and comfortable with killing…Maybe that's why you liked Tsunayoshi so much. There was such a pure and untainted aura to him. You had a feeling that even if he was brought into the heart of the mafia, the child would still be able to maintain that purity. It gave you a little hope for society, but also a sense of sorrow. That light was being overwhelmed and will be lost if Luce is unable to find a replacement for you.

The car slows to a stop and you open your eyes. It is only a small relief to see the mansion that you will be staying in for the next week. You are the first to exit the car and enter the mansion. You can sense that the kids are comfortable with entering the building as well if you were alright. By now all of them knew that you had a heightened awareness and could sense anyone with malicious intent from miles away.

"Trash," Xanxus calls out.

You don't answer. If that kid wants to talk to you, then he had to learn not to address you with such a title.

"Oi, woman."

You sigh silently and turn around to face the kid. "Is there something you need, child?"

The raven haired boy narrowed his eyes, disliking the title you have addressed him as. "I want steak tonight."

"Good for you, go tell the chefs," you say uncaringly with a wave of your hand and make to walk away.

"You make it," Xanxus demands.

"I may be female, but I don't cook kid. See you in the morning." With that you disappear in a shroud of mist.

* * *

Today was a rather productive day. You killed three assassins during breakfast; tortured four intruders before lunch; traumatized the kids a bit during lunch to stop them from stealing your food; took out a thirty man ambush during the afternoon outing; and killed another set of four assassins before dinner. Now you were sitting down at the far end of the table drinking a nice cup of French pressed coffee and reading a novel Fēng had recommended, having ditched the books that Colonello had suggested.

"Hey, El."

Well that was a new one. The boss brat was actually using the name you were going by. You place a bookmark to mark your place and close the book, placing it on the table before looking up. "Yes."

Xanxus gives you a hard, critical look. Hm. Must be important. "Be my mist guardian."

Or not.

You lace your fingers together and prop your chin on top, your elbows resting on the table. "I decline."

The boy continued to glare at you. "It wasn't a request."

You hummed a bit. "I can see that, but it wasn't an order I would follow anyways. I have no desire to be chained down to any one famiglia. Besides, you have no right to order me around. May I ask what brought this on?"

"Ushishishi. Flutter has a mist attribute," Bel informs you while twirling one of his knives.

You shrug. "Mist and sun. But I doubt you know what any of that really means." You stand up and start walking away with your book in hand. But you pause at the door and lean against the door frame when a sudden wave of pain hits you. You place a hand over an eye and grimace. An image of you lying on the ground bleeding from a wound in your abdomen flashes past your eyes, then suddenly the pain is gone again. You smirk a little. "What an interesting development."

"VOOOI! You sick or something!" Squalo shouts.

You turn your head to the side so that you can see the group through one eye and smirk again. "Nigh' night, kiddies."

You walk away thinking about what you saw. You had one other secret that not even Reborn knew; the ability to see your death.

* * *

The week was finally, _finally_ over and you were heading out on your next mission. You decided that you would treat Tsunayoshi to whatever he wanted for being such an angel. Heck, the kid was a complete saint compared to the potential Varia brats. You had even been conned into becoming the mist guardian if they couldn't find one in the next decade. You had also witnessed a whole new level of devoted lackeys. How that Levi kid could stand for so much and still think Xanxus was like a god was beyond you. Not to mention how the stupid loudmouth still had a voice. It had taken every ounce of patience not to make the kid mute for the rest of his life. Then there was that Lusseria...thing. The boy had insisted that you treated him like a little sister, which was weird on it's own. But hey, you weren't one to judge. Actually, that part isn't what bothered you so much. It was the boy walking in while you were changing and going through _all_ of your clothes (what assassin has a whole trunk full of laced and frilly undergarments). Then there was the literal royal pain in the ass who demanded all of your time and attention, only to choose games where he could throw knives at you. You get enough of that sort of thing from actual assassins, thank you very much. But that was all behind you now.

Now you have another mission to focus on. But this job has proven to be a difficult one. You may be an illusionist yourself, but the person you were chasing was a top class one with only one flame to focus on. You may have held having two flames over Reborn's head in the past, but both of you know that that also meant twice the amount of training. As such, you also could never be at the same level as Reborn with his sun flames or the illusionist you were chasing with their mist flames. But that doesn't mean you couldn't catch this person. You were a top class assassin and had enough experience in tracking the impossible down. The chase took you all over Europe and even a good portion of Asia, but you were eventually able to catch up to the person.

You huff a little and crouch down in front of the hooded person that was now tied to a tree. "You were a toughie. Mind just going along with me now? Or do we have to keep fighting."

The person clicked their tongue. "Caught by some no name assassin, how pathetic."

You prop your head on your palms with your elbows resting on your knees. "If it helps any, you can say that you were caught by the Mockingbird."

You can tell that the person is scowling at you, even though you can't see their eyes.

"Look, I'm not here to kill you. I was just told to track you down and make sure you aren't responsible for a few thefts, murders, and whatnot."

"Well I'm not!" The person snapped.

"Right. Then I'm also supposed to take you back to meet the person who hired me."

"Then you're in for a fight, because I'm not going anywhere with you."

You sigh. "Is it possible that I can pay you to come with me?"

"Money does nothing for me."

You fake a dramatic gasp with a hand over your heart, though you don't put in enough effort for a convincing expression too. "Why not! Money makes the world go 'round. No matter what happens, even after our death, so long as mankind goes on money will always hold a high value in living. You cannot live comfortably without the money to pay for all of the luxuries our kind provides."

"Yeah, and then you can go and be the richest person in the cemetery," the person replied sarcastically.

You shrug. "Think what you want, but I would rather die comfortably knowing that I can pay for all the amenities that I want rather than starving in a ditch."

"Why are you even telling me this?" The person asks exasperatedly.

You can tell that this is a rhetorical question and the person didn't really doesn't care for your answer, but you reply anyways. "Everyone needs something to live for. So why not live for earning a living? Besides, right now you're just floating through existence."

"I'm comfortable living the life I have right now," the person grumbles. "I'm a psychic and top class illusionist, why would I want anything as petty as pieces of paper with minimal value?"

"Because you're afraid of death, but can't think of a way to make your life worth anything more."

The person gapes at you.

You smile a little. "I'm not saying that you have to be a greedy money grubber, though that would be more amusing. It's more like I'm saying you should find an occupation and a group of people you want to live a full life for."

You untie the person and reach into your pocket, pulling out a wad of cash. You hand it to the person. "Here. Counting this should help pass the time while we head back. You can call me JJ."

You don't know why, but you feel like you're going to know this person for more than a few weeks. So you told them the temporary permanent name you were using back in Japan.

The person looks at you almost hesitantly. "Viper."

* * *

**And so we welcome another member of the Arcobaleno. Hoped you liked it!**

**Reviews are lovely!**


	12. Target 12

**Like I promised, here is the next chapter! In this one you shall learn a little more about 'yourself', so expect a little darkness.**

**I want to once again thank all my wonderful reviewers; Eggbert 3000, skidney, tazdevil, Meisa-tan, xxOMGgalxx, Tsukuyomi-chan, LadyDream3512, xxtoushirou, Amplifying Loud, and Artemis Kuromoru! Thank you very much!**

**As for questions:**

**tazdevil: Yes, Xanxus has some respect for the reader. I may explain it in greater detail depending on how much people want to see it.**

**Meisa-tan, LadyBream3512, Amplifying Loud, and anyone else curious about this matter: The reader is partially the reason. At least 'you're' the one who starts Viper out. ;)**

**Okay! Hope you enjoy!**

* * *

Target 12

You're on a private jet heading back to Japan finally, but you weren't thinking about the prospect of seeing the bright little child again. Instead you were tracing a seemingly random pattern on your arm absentmindedly, thinking about your vision. You had gotten an updated one the night before, the difference being a strange scar that covered your arm (which was what you were tracing). Though, the wound looked a few days old so it must have happened a little before the death experience. This is the sixth, seventh if you consider the update, vision depicting your death now. You never saw anything else, but usually it was enough to help you avoid the damage that would have killed you.

It made you think back to the first time you discovered this small selfish ability.

Your mother was a noble, someone of high social status. She was _so_ proud that she was married to a top class assassin. Father earned so much money had a really big reputation. He may have even been the best of the era. Your birth was an accident. It was never supposed to happen. Mother was upset and would have thrown you away if it wouldn't have damaged her reputation.

You learned early on that you were never going to receive any affection from mother, but you tried to please her anyways. Perhaps it was because of that desire that you gained the ability to read auras. You could tell that your mother might have come to love you if you were born a boy, but as you were now, you could only ever be a burden. Father knew you developed a unique ability, even though he didn't know specifically what. He started taking you on missions with him and with the sole desire to make him proud, you used your abilities to help him in any way you could.

Soon a system was developed.

If you embarrassed mother in public then you were beaten. If you didn't sit or stand straight, you were beaten. If you didn't use the proper table etiquette, then you were beaten. If you weren't the cutest and most talented child present at the social event, then mother would beat you. If you hadn't learned twice as much as what the other kids had learned in one month, then you were locked in the cellar which included being chained to the wall. If you were caught looking out the window during lessons, then you weren't allowed to have breakfast or dinner. You would have gone without food entirely, but most of mother's social gatherings were for going out for luncheon, so you still managed a few bites. If mother had a bad day, you were somehow to blame and beaten for it. It was the same for your training sessions. If you couldn't shoot through the center target, if you couldn't dodge properly or in time, if you couldn't defeat your trainer, or if you couldn't learn how to use a new fighting style perfectly by the end of the month, then you were beaten.

When you went on missions with father, if you weren't able to provide any help to father, making you a dead weight, then mother would beat you. If you got in father's way, then you were beaten with a cane. If you had to be saved then you were whipped and locked in the cellar for three days. If you got in the way, or had to be saved and father got hurt, then mother would beat you with a knife. If you couldn't kill your target, then you were punished however mother saw fit. If you became sick from the sight of a dead body or showed any emotion on the mission, then you were kicked until you couldn't breathe. If father complimented you, then your overall beating was halved.

Father never lay a hand on you, but he never helped you either. He always said that it would build up your pain tolerance and it helped build character. Sometimes he would even watch when mother beat you within an inch of your life, but he always made sure you lived. You were the only one who could ever inherit his legacy, so you had to stay alive.

You learned to never beg. Father always killed the targets who begged in the most gruesome way possible, so you knew that if you begged then your punishment would be worse. You never smiled, even during your outings when mother wanted you too. You just couldn't. At first she would beat you with her purse when you didn't, but soon she got over it. Smiling or showing any other emotion was the one thing you disobeyed your parents. Showing an emotion hurt even more than the physical pain your mother brought you, and it only made you feel self-disgust when you tried faking it, so you just stopped completely. Father didn't mind. He said that an assassin shouldn't give away any emotions that could betray you on a mission.

When you were only seven, you had your first vision. You saw that your mother was in a raging fit and father was nowhere nearby to quell her. She took a kitchen knife and stabbed you through the heart. When you came too, you did the only thing you could think of and that was to preserve your life (one of many lessons ingrained into your being). So you ran away.

A few months of living on the street, dodging all the hired hands sent out to retrieve you, you had another vision. In this one, you were shot trying to protect some blond kid. A couple of weeks later you saw the same blond kid running away from a group of thugs. At first you were just going to leave him behind, but something told you to help him out. So you stole some ropes and pulled the kid up, avoiding a frontal confrontation and changing what was supposed to happen. You got nicked on the shoulder by a bullet, but that was _way_ better than shot through the heart, so you were thankful. The kid was highly upset though and tried to make it up, but only succeeded in annoying you.

The kid had gotten a number of broken bones, which he only aggravated more when he tried to stem the bleeding. You had to force him to sit still while you set his arm properly and bandage his ribs before taking care of your own wound. You didn't know about flames at this point, but you did heal faster than normal (that's how your mother got away with beating you all the time). The blond had introduced himself as Colonello and explained enthusiastically how he had come up with that name for himself. When he asked you for yours, you told him the truth; you had no name. By leaving your family, you had abandoned your name and anything associated with it. Colonello tried to convince you to come up with a new one, like he had, but you felt no reason to.

From then on Colonello followed you everywhere. He didn't seem to mind that you had to dodge the people hired to capture or kill you as well, and seemed to love learning whatever you had to offer. He also seemed to like it when you were feeling well enough to whistle a little tune. You didn't know many songs, but whatever you heard on the streets you were able to sing back. The only complaint Colonello ever had, was that you never put any emotion into the songs and that you didn't smile enough. You were now able to manage a small display of emotion (Colonello was just too ridiculous not to react to), but the rest of your energy went into maintaining a barrier. You had learned during your time on the streets that everyone had an aura and the majority couldn't control or hide away their aura. You had already created a barrier to help protect you from your mother's violent aura, but you had to teach yourself how to strengthen it to protect you from so many others.

Almost a year later, you and Colonello finally went your separate ways. Colonello wanted to join the COMSUBIN and you wanted a proper teacher. You found one rather quickly actually. The person brought you under his wing and taught you as much as he could. But he was so kind, despite his occupation. He sharpened your skills and corrected what you had learned incorrectly. You two went on several missions together and your teacher would always be sure to tell you what you did correctly and how to fix what you had done wrong. He never beat you for doing something he didn't like or approve of, so you only ever really gained bruises after spars. Around this time the people who had been chasing you suddenly came to a stop.

When you were nearing the age of nine, your teacher took you to China. That was when you had your third vision. You saw a young Asian boy cornered by a group of thugs. He had a peaceful and untainted aura, but he became angry and attacked out of spite. A child, who was in the wrong place at the wrong time, was about to get hit by the others attack, so you protected them and took the blow instead. A few months into your stay, you came across the same scene you had envisioned. But this time you fought back as a defense to save the child and only came out with a few scrapes. The main child from your vision apologized profusely and introduced himself as Fēng. It turned out that he was one of the students of an acquaintance of your teacher, and you were going to be introduced to each other during this trip. Fēng vowed to train himself till he could use his power in a calmer and more controlled mindset that day.

Fēng became the closest thing to calling a friend (Colonello was more like a lost puppy that kept following you around). You two spent a lot of time together during your stay in China. While Fēng could be a loose cannon unpredictably, he made great progress through meditating and training. You two would spar occasionally to help him get out any pent up negative emotions and to further train your bodies. But just like with Colonello, you only stayed together for nearly a year before you had to return to Europe with your teacher. But you two did maintain contact. Sometimes messages were spread out with several months in between, but you two always found a way to check up on the other.

A year later you had a forth vision. In this one some mystery kid and you got in a big fight. Both of you had a gun out and were threatening each other. The other kid shot you, but it was completely unintentional. A few weeks after your tenth birthday, your teacher brought back the mystery kid from his mission. The moment your eyes locked with his, you two knew you loathed each other. Teacher had introduced the kid as Reborn to you, but you couldn't care less. Though he said nothing, the kid was irritated that you did not introduce yourself. So you explained to him that you had no name to go by, which is why you chose to say nothing at all. But he didn't like that answer, to which you told him there was nothing he could do about it. Reborn was surprised by your ability to read him and you let him continue to think that since you didn't want to tell him about you 'gift' as father had called it.

When the event you had foreseen came about, there was actually not a whole lot you could do to change it other than trying to move out of the way. You still ended up with a bullet to your side though. But Reborn had actually been guilt ridden enough to call upon his flames, which you two had only started learning a few days prior, enough to heal your wound completely. You two learned the extent of the boy's genius that day. However, you two didn't become all buddy-buddy after that event. You two still despised each other, you were just more cautious about how you fought.

Yet another year later, you had another vision. At first you thought it was just a nightmare or a memory coming back to haunt you, because you saw almost the exact same thing as your first vision. The only difference in your fifth vision was the environment in which your mother stabbed you. But the clarity and sense of dread was able to convince you that you should be cautious at least. The event didn't take place till half a year later, but the vision had been so vivid that you were able to remember it.

You were training behind the cottage you, Reborn, and your teacher were currently living in. Reborn decided to take a break and went into the kitchen and that's when mother appeared. She demanded that you return home and train under a 'proper' teacher, meaning father. She yelled and screamed what an ungrateful brat you were and how useless you turned out to be. She said that you were going to be locked in the cellar for a whole month for disobeying your parents and running away like you did.

When you look back at it now, your actions at that time were foolish. The again, you were just an eleven year old kid. You had been lectured to the point of insanity about proper etiquette and one of your lessons was to never lie to your parents, so you told mother bluntly that you didn't want to go home to an drunken hag that mooches off the title and riches of her husband, nor did you want to go to a teacher who you couldn't learn from. Mother had gone into a mad rage and pulled out the knife she always had strapped to her thigh. But you were stronger, faster, and more adept at killing than her. It probably looked like you had disappeared to mother, but you had simply moved behind her. You had taken her knife and stabbed her through her liver then heart. You can remember the look of utter shock and fear in the woman's eyes as she looked at you and fell to the ground. But you didn't show any emotion in return. That was one of your lessons after all.

It was only after blood had stopped pouring out of the woman that you stopped staring and realized that Reborn had been watching. It was after this event that you two actually started getting along to some small degree. You never bothered to ask why Reborn had suddenly gained a small bit of respect and empathy, possibly even sympathy, toward you. You two were fine with your mutual understanding. Teacher was pleased that the two of you could live under the same roof without trying to kill the other in your sleep, though that experience proved to be a good way to learn how to sleep with your eyes open. Teacher said that it would be good for both of you to get along. He seemed to be able to see something you couldn't and he always seemed sad when he looked at Reborn. During the time after mother's visit, you started learning how to show a few more emotions with Reborn's help. Although, they were really just expressions of irritation, but that's better than nothing, right? Unlike Colonello and Fēng though, Reborn has stuck around for a whole five years. During this time Reborn learned more about your ability to read auras, however you still had your secrets.

Now here you were with another vision. How long would this one take to come to pass? Weeks? Months? Years? Was this that last run or would you be able to change the future and make it out alive?

You smile wryly. '_Perhaps I should consider writing up a will,_' you morbidly joke in the safety of your head. It's not like you really had anything to leave behind.

But this vision was so vague. Usually you saw the perpetrator responsible for your death and the people nearby, but this time it was just you lying on the ground bleeding to death. The only odd thing you could think of was that you were smiling sadly.

You sigh lightly.

What will come, will come. And there was nothing you could do about it, so why fret about the little things.

You smile a little when a familiar brown puffball runs over and tackles you. You run a hand through the child's hair and stare down at his warm and joy filled eyes.

After all, it's not about the ending, but how you lived during the time leading up to it.

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**Reviews are lovely!**


	13. Target 13

**Well...almost an entire week before I updated again...**

**Just a _heads up_, if you didn't see it on my profile, I needed and got a job which I'll be starting soon. And due to connections I kind of wish I didn't have anymore, I shall be working a full time shift on the part time job I signed up for...yeah, not what I planned. In any case, this means slower updates.**

**But right now, me wants to thanks: Tsukuyomi-chan, Meisa-tan, skidney, tazdevil, anna the viking XD, Amplifying Loud, xxtoushirou, LadyDream3512, Preppy-Stealthy-Ninja, and sourapple2000 for reviewing! I shall keep trying to get chapters out at least once a week after my job starts for you guys!**

******I also warn that this chapter will be moving through time quickly!**

**Hope you enjoy!**

* * *

Target 13

Two months. That's how long you were away. Not six months. Not a year. So why was it like this? How could have things gotten this bad in the short span of time that you were away?

The little one's smile was strained and fake, obviously so. Yet Reborn and Giotto seemed unaware. Their control issues seemed to have gotten so much worse. If they cared so much, then why couldn't they see that they were hurting the small brunette?

You had made sure that you came back in time for Tsuna's birthday. You knew that he wanted to be there, so you finished your mission early so that you could fulfill that simple wish. You knew that Tsuna wanted to celebrate in their new home (They had moved into a small standard two-story house while you were away). You _knew_ that he only wanted his precious ones with him for the day.

So why? Why were Reborn and Giotto taking him somewhere else? Why weren't they staying home and celebrating with Nana? Why? Why? _Why?_

You glance at Tsunayoshi's reflection in the windowpane. You were seated alone on the middle bench. Tsuna was in the back with Daemon (one of Giotto's friends who were introduced to you last year). Reborn and Giotto were sitting up front. Tsuna was hunched over, his hear buried into his arms, and shaking a little. You were sure that you were the only one who knew that the small child was crying.

'_Since when did the little one become so good at hiding his tears?_' You wonder. That clenching feeling in your chest is back, but you push your confusion for the feeling to the back of your mind in favor of watching the back seat.

Daemon was trying to freak the child out, so he created an illusion that his body was split in half, his legs seated on the side and his upper torso holding himself up in the middle. Your eyes narrow when Daemon nudges the child with his elbow in an attempt to gain the small one's attention. He also was unaware that Tsuna was crying, but that didn't excuse his actions.

You reached around and gathered the now eight year old child into your arms, making sure that no one else saw his tear streaked features. You press his face into your shoulder and hold on tight, providing him the security he so desperately needs. Tsuna's movements are hesitant, but soon he is clutching your shirt and crying a little more desperately, knowing that you'll use your abilities to mask his sobs. Your chest hurts even more now, but not because Tsuna was clutching too tightly.

You close your eyes and suddenly you aren't in the car anymore. You're alone and standing in the middle of darkness, yet you could still see yourself like your standing in daylight. A presence appears behind you and you turn to see Luce, but she's changed her outfit and hair style.

"Nice make over," you comment offhandedly. "I see you had your kid, congratulations."

The woman smiles. "I should apologize. But I'm not actually Luce. Luce is my mother and she asked me to take her place for a little while."

You shrug. "You seemed a little young for the position of mafia boss anyways. So may I know your real name then?"

The woman nodded. "My name is Aria."

"So what do you need this time?" You don't really mean to be rude, but Tsuna needs you right now.

This time the smile is sad. "There is no other. So my mother and I ask once again. Will you look after the sky child? His life is an important one and is tied to several important events. But he is a fragile soul and his flame will be blown into oblivion at this rate."

You shake your head. "I'm an assassin. I live to break others, not hold them together. You need to find someone else."

"There is no other." Aria gazes at you seriously. "Whether you like it or not, you are tied to the fates of young Tsunayoshi, Reborn, Giotto, and the rest of their family. Please. We beg of you to help him. Protect this child from the destruction that creeps upon him."

You don't speak. You don't know what to do. You don't want to be tied down and attached. There are consequences to involving yourself with others in a closer relationship. But…this child needs you and you know you can help. You can stop a similar fate to your own from happening again…

You look back up at Arai. "I will do what I can."

Aria smiled warmly once again. "Then we'll be counting on you."

You close your eyes and open them to see that you're back in the car and Reborn is in front of you. You grimace. "Get out of my face."

Reborn frowned. "You've been in a daze for 97 seconds past the time I first started calling for you after we parked. What happened? It's not like you to go into a daze and leave yourself vulnerable like that."

"I was talking to someone about something important," you answered shortly, making it clear that you weren't intending to explain yourself any further.

"Well were here, so get out." Reborn moves away so that you can climb out.

You readjust your grip on the child in your arms so that you can continue to carry him. If you were a normal girl, you probably would have had more trouble carrying an eight year old, even if he was small for his age. But as it was, you could not only carry, but hide his red face and make it all look like the child was sleeping.

You step out of the car and look up at the Spade house. There were four auras inside, two of them being Giotto and Daemon. But you didn't know who the other two were. You could tell that they were children, so that meant the parents were out. Actually, their traces were minimum, so they were probably barely even home other than to sleep.

You walk in the opposite directions, heading away from the house. Tsunayoshi didn't need more people around him right now. Maybe there was a park nearby that you could take him too till he had calmed himself.

"Where do you think you're going," Reborn called out sternly.

"A walk," you reply bluntly without stopping.

"What about Tsuna?"

"Taking him with, duh." You use your mist flames to disappear before Reborn could ask any more questions. You took off quickly and didn't stop till you reached some random park a few miles away. "I'm sorry little one."

Tsuna shook his head and pulled away a little so that he could look at you. "Why are you sorry nee-chan? You didn't do anything."

"If I had come back sooner, then perhaps I could have made then stay home to celebrate your birthday."

Tsuna shook his head again. "Reborn does whatever he wants, but it's okay. I just overreacted."

"Overreacting is when your brother gets a scratch after training with Reborn. You are upset. You reacted this way because they pushed you over your edge."

"I'm okay nee-chan, really."

You sigh and hug the boy. "Do not hide your tears from the likes of me little one, or I will take offense. You can always come to me when the burden becomes too much. I will tell no one."

"You promise?" The child's voice wavered and he stared up at you with watery eyes.

"And so I solemnly vow." You hold up your left hand to emphasize your point.

Tsuna giggled and hug you. "Nee-chan is so silly. But thank you." You can feel his smile as well as his aura lightening up.

You smile a little too, but then frown. '_I _will_ give you the freedom you deserve. I swear it on my life._'

* * *

It has been nearly another year now. Reborn is twenty, you are eighteen, Giotto thirteen, and Tsuna eight. It's been another hectic year. Any missions that you would have taken on was thrown out in favor of Reborn's and the others' mysterious group missions. While the others didn't mind you tagging along, you were pissed off that they made no effort to stop the idiot hitman from kidnapping you for each job (it wasn't like they needed the help). Reborn would literally set up a series of traps (including sleeping gas and the like) then cart you off, but they wouldn't let Colonello come. Then again, the blond was a bit of an idiot, but that doesn't make you qualified to go either dammit!

While you finally got the chance to meet the real Luce, you were disappointed with the meeting of Skull. Everyone else had some amazing ability or reputation and a personality to back it up, but Skull was…pathetic. You felt bad when Reborn, Mammon, Verde, and even Lal told you to take the biker's position in their group, but you couldn't find any other excuse other than you didn't have cloud flames. You also ended up taking care of a good portion of Skull's part of their missions for him.

The positive side of all of this was that you got a portion of everyone's pay, which totaled to be about even with what they all received in the end. There was possibly also the chance that you may or may not have grown a little more comfortable with the group, but you didn't really care about such bonds that much (you did _not_ need to be any closer to the sadistic demon than you already were, thank you very much). It's not that you were greedy. Money was just more direct about what it gave you than people. In addition, money didn't walk away from you on its own because you're the one who gives it away. If you run out of money, then it's your own fault for using piss poor planning. People walked away and betrayed without notice and with consequences that aren't your fault most of the time.

Now you were with the group heading toward some destination where they were supposed to locate some treasure of some sort. You had negotiated with them earlier that you were going to stay with the cars and wait for them to come back. You knew that Colonello had tagged along as well, heck you even helped conceal the idiot. But what you didn't expect was a sudden attack from a bunch of unknown hitmen after you had sent Colonello off to follow the group.

"Motha Fucka!" You shout angrily when another bullet skims your shoulder this time. You twist around and take out the fool who tried to shoot you. How many of these worms were there anyway!

You took out the knives you had 'confiscated' from Bel and take down another wave of the seemingly endless flow of soldiers. Why were they here? Was something going to happen to the others and all these people were told that the strongest seven would be weakened? If that was the case, then you needed to finish up quickly.

"Guess this is a good time as any to test these suckers out," you mutter, pulling out a few bombs Verde was paying you to test out in the field. You throw them out and run as far away as you could, Verde said that they had a maximum of a fifty-foot blast radius, but you didn't want to take any chances with that mad scientist's warning. You are thankful when you glance over your shoulder and see at least an eighty-foot in radius crater from each of the bombs that you tossed.

You look around in search of any remaining thugs. You're attention zooms in on one that managed to slip past you in the confusion and was now racing up the pathway that the others had taken.

"Oh no you don't!" You growl and sprint after the idiot, who panicked when he saw you coming.

From there it was a race…until you remembered you had a gun. You roll your eyes at your lapse in intelligence and take out the weapon on shoot the fool. By that time you were nearly to the top of the path. Before you could even lower your pistol, a blast of light flooded the area. You raised an arm to cover your face, wondering what the hell was going on. But just as suddenly it appeared, the light was gone and the arm you had protected your face with was in shreds.

You grimace. Your pain tolerance was considerably high considering your past, so it really didn't hurt. But that didn't mean the blood loss wouldn't eventually affect you, so you had no choice but go back to the cars and fix up your wound. On the other hand, the others may need the medical kit so this might have been a blessing in disguise. You also notice that you're clothes weren't in the best condition either, so you might as well take this chance to change as well. You just hope that the new set isn't too snug (it was an outfit from a few years ago and you never bothered to change out for a newer ensemble). However, you are pleasantly surprised to see that everything fits just fine.

After you change and haphazardly bandage your wounds (you have your sun flames so you don't really care too much to do the job properly), you head back up the mountainside to find the others. You locate them easily at the very top, but you were surprised to see that they were all unconscious. You don't even consider that they're dead, not because you have faith in them, but you saw a twitch from each of them when you arrived.

Although it has always been your policy to never do anything for free, you bandage up each one of them and carry them down the mountain and over to the cars, lying them on blankets you found. Lal seemed to get the worst out of everyone, seeing as she now had strange scars on her face. But more concerning than that was that everyone escept Luce seemed to have gotten about seven years younger.

Wait…

Seven years…clothes fit…Holy -! You run over to the nearest window and study your reflection.

Son of a-! You had become seven years younger too. How in the world did _this_ happen! Unlike most women (and plenty of men) you were proud of your age. It took eighteen whole years to get to this point dammit!

Before you could rage to yourself about your new 'makeover', you hear a groan and turn around to see Reborn and the others starting to wake up. You walk over and feel the hitman's forehead for a fever. "How ya feelin'? 'Cause you look like shit. Then again, you always look like that."

Reborn rolled his eyes, but then realized something and focused on your face more. "Is it me or did you just get younger."

"Take a look in the mirror sunshine. We all did." You nod towards the others to emphasize your point. Your vision goes astray and you remember your injuries. "Hey, are you sure you're okay?"

Reborn sits up and rubs his shoulder, while stretching his neck. "Other than the age thing, I don't think there's any fatal damage. Why?"

You nod. "That's good, because-"

Everything went dark.

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**I'm sure you all get the gist of what happened. As for the reason Reborn and the other aren't babies..well, that will be explain later. ;)**

**Hope you liked it! Reviews are lovely!**


	14. Target 14

**Another quick update! But this is in thanks for the over 100 reviews! ****I'm so happy that my stories are this popular! So thank you EVERYONE!**

**I also want to wish a very BIG thank you to: skidney, Meisa-tan, TheKawaiiStar21, Tsukuyomi-chan, sourapple2000, ArcobalenoCanvas, Ling Lariat, alexag98, xxtoushirou, SphereShadow, The Mouse Maestro, anna the viking XD, LadyDream3512, givemehugs54, Preppy-Stealthy-Ninja, and DairyMilk chocolate for reviewing chapter 13! I love reading what you have to say and it's great to see that so many like this only barely tamed plot bunny!**

**I hope you enjoy this chapter as well!**

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Target 14

The first thing you realized when you woke up was that you were chained down to a bed, and for that, there was going to be hell to pay. You didn't care if it was some bad guy or a friend who didn't want you to overreact, you were going to kick some idiot's ass for this.

Simultaneously, you activate your sun flames to accelerate the corrosion of the chains and twist with all your might, snapping the loops of metal and rolling yourself off the mattress. Your vision is still a little blurry and you feel a little light headed, but you weren't going to let that hold you back. You pull out your pistols and point them at the first two blurry outlines of people that you could make out.

"Alright, who's the wise guy who tied me down?" You growl.

"Told you she wasn't going to take being tied down well," a smug voice called out.

"It was worth a try, kora!"

"Hmph. It was probably just that you're terrible at binding anything."

Your vision clears up enough where you can finally make out the room and the occupants. You realize that you're pointing a gun at Colonello and Skull, and lower your weapons. You huff and rub your temples. "What in the world is going on? There has better be a damned good reason why you pulled that stunt."

"We figured that you might not take what we're about to explain very well."

You turn around to see your Chinese friend back in child form and realize that they others were children as well. You pinch the bridge of your nose. "Arg. So it wasn't all some crazy dream."

"Oh? So you aren't angry?" Luce asked cautiously.

"Oh no. I'm pissed," you answered the first part calmly, but now your fury was overflowing. "Whoever's responsible for this has better have a damn good hiding spot because I'm going to turn this planet over a hundred times to find this idiot, then I'm gonna pound his face in till I feel satisfied and then he better answer quickly, or I'm going to take my sweet time torturing the bloody hell out of him."

"And that's why we thought it might be a good idea to tie you down." Reborn shrugged away from the wall and walked over to your side. "For someone usually so difficult to rile up, you sure are overreacting."

You held up a hand and turned away. "Don't talk to me. I'm pissed at you too."

"Oh?" You could practically feel the idiot raising his eyebrow at you. "And why is that?"

"I told you not to get me involved in whatever it was you were doing, and yet you _still_ forced me along with you!" You snap. A wave of dizziness hits you and you stumble over to the wall.

"You should be careful," Luce reprimanded lightly. "You lost a lot of blood, not to mention the effects of the tri-ne-sette."

"The what?" You grumble.

"You should sit down first," the martial artist recommended and led you over to a group of couches.

"Thanks Fēng," you say softly.

"Actually, it's Fon now," the Chinese man corrected with a small smile.

"Heh?" You make a face at the man…child…person. Dang this was confusing.

"Some of us changed our names when we realized that we became the next Arcobaleno," the martial artist explained.

You stare at the group in confusion. "Arco-wha?"

"Arcobaleno. We are the next generation charged with watching over the rainbow pacifiers." Luce, followed by everyone else except for Lal held up a colored pacifier.

"Wait, wait, wait," you held up your hands to stop anyone else from talking. "Let's get through this one at a time. First, what changes are there to your names? I know Fon's now, but what about the rest of you?"

"It's Mammon now," the illusionist said tersely.

"The rest of us chose our own names when we went into our occupation, so we didn't feel the need for any changes," Reborn spoke up.

Fon nodded. "It wasn't that big of a change, so I felt like only a small adjustment to my name was needed."

Mammon clicked his tongue in irritation. Obviously, he was upset about the change, then again…so were you, but you didn't have a permanent name anyways.

You sigh. "Okay. Next then, that I'd like to know, is our age regression."

Verde stepped forward. "From what we understand, when we reached the top of the mountain to find the so called treasure, we were all cursed instead. It seems like the transfer of power was able to maintain a steady form when Colonello took the place of Lal Mirch, but when you took in a bit of it as well, then the balance was thrown off."

Luce nodded. "Usually, the Arcobaleno curse entails turning the seven strongest of the era into infants. But this time around the curse became unbalanced with too much interference and we regressed about seven years give or take."

Verde jumped back in to continue his explanation. "From what I've studied while you were still unconscious, I believe that there's a chance that instead of the form of immortal un-aging infants, we shall continue to grow older and regain our old forms eventually."

"So here comes puberty all over again. Fate must really hate me." You rolled your eyes. But then you remembered something. Something very, very important to you. Your eyes snap toward Colonello and zoom in toward the actually very familiar looking blue pacifier hanging around his neck. You could feel a nostalgic presence coming from the object as well. "Wait. So what happened to the last set of Arcobaleno."

You only received a round of shaking heads.

"We're not sure," Luce replied sadly. "They disappeared."

You place your hand over your chest, trying to figure out this…sinking sort of feeling. It was strange and similar to a possible physical pain, but somehow worse. It felt like someone was squeezing your heart and pinching your throat…What was this sensation?

"What's wrong dear?" Luce asked softly, placing hand over your shoulder.

But you don't answer her, instead you turn toward Reborn who has his fedora hiding his face. "Reborn…What about teacher?"

The quirk of a downturned lip was all you needed to see to know your teachers fate. The clenching feeling in your chest intensified.

You frown. "What is this?" You whisper, more to yourself than to the others.

"What is what?" Fon asked.

You look up, unsure if you should answer. "There's this strange feeling in chest and I'm not sure what it is."

Luce smiled, albeit sadly. "I believe that's grief."

You frown in confusion. "Grief?...I'm sad?"

"Don't tell me you don't know that much?" Colonello tries to joke and lighten the mood.

However, this only frustrated you. Was this something you were supposed to know? But you don't really think about emotions that often. You know that happiness was this warm sort of feeling and you're familiar with anger and frustration, but you have never experienced 'sadness' before. When you killed mother and father, you just felt hollow and perhaps betrayal. There was also the issue of the clenching in your chest that time when you were accompanying Tsuna to his school on 'Parent's Day'. But you don't think that was all just sorrow.

"How about I teach you a little bit about those newer emotions later?" Luce offered. You could sense her aura dimming with something akin to sadness and sympathy.

Why was it that you could sense when others were sad, but not when you were? But you nod and return your attention back to the main part of the conversation. "So why don't you look like a teenager, Luce?"

The woman smiled a little. "I was actually a great deal older than all of you. How else do you think I had a daughter?"

"Daang~ You age well then." You shake your head. That had been a little unexpected. Sure, you knew she was older than the everyone else, but still…"So what are all of you planning to do in the meantime with this curse in place?"

The mood grew darker. But Reborn still answered. "We're going to search for the person responsible for all of this."

You nod. You figured as much. "Great. Any leads?"

"Not for you there isn't," Reborn replied shortly.

"And why the hell not!" You snap.

"All you need to know is that you should avoid the man in the iron hat." Reborn was ordering you and wasn't going to make any room for arguments. But when has that ever stopped you?

"You're the one who dragged me into this mess, so you have no right to tell me what I should or should not do!" You growl.

"This time you _are_ going to listen!" Reborn says darkly.

"Bull!" You hiss. "Give me one good reason I shouldn't."

Reborn narrowed his eyes. "He's dangerous."

You roll your eyes. "No~, and here I thought he was passing out bouquets of sunshine and butterflies."

Reborn clicked his tongue. "He's someone even I would avoid if I had any other option. But as it is, the rest of us need to find him to lift the curse."

You grind your teeth in frustration. "Well I got cursed too dammit!"

"You weren't supposed to!" Reborn just about shouted.

You were surprised. Reborn never lost his cool to such an extent. But that didn't abate your anger for very long. "And who do you supposed forced me to come along in the first place!"

You glare at him, and he you. Neither of you were willing to back down on this matter.

"Perhaps we should continue explaining about the other issues with our situation and you two can go have your little lover's spat somewhere else," Verde interjected.

This throws you off. You deadpan at the scientist. "Why in the bloody bowels of hell would I land myself with someone that pisses me off 90 percent of the time we're together? I'm not stupid. Slightly insane, maybe; but not stupid."

Verde shrugged. "For someone you can't stand, you two sure hand around each other a lot."

To this you could only stare. He was right. You were stuck with that idiot of a hitman the majority of the time. You slap your forehead. That's what landed you in this current situation in the first place!

"Relationships aside, I think we should mention one more thing." Verde pointed toward you. "As you can see, even though you absorbed some of the curse by mistake, you didn't receive a separate pacifier like the rest of us."

"Oh? So even you got one, Lal?" You turn toward the blue haired girl.

The ex-military officer nodded and held up a colorless pacifier that looked like it had a bunch of black noodles crammed inside.

A piece of Verde's sentence came back to you and made you stop studying the small bauble. "Wait, separate? What do you mean by that?"

"Well… Maybe you should take a look for yourself." Verde handed you a mirror.

At first, you didn't notice anything out of the ordinary, but then a glint of something oddly…shiny on your chest caught your attention. This was strange since you don't usually wear any jewelry. Since you had a camisole on under your dress shirt, you didn't mind unfastening a few buttons to get a better look. However, you weren't too pleased with the sight you were met with.

You take a deep breath through your nose and gently put the mirror down on the coffee table in front of you. "Is that a…?"

Luce nodded.

You nod and excuse yourself for a moment, grabbing a pillow on your way out of the room. The moment you close the door, you shove the pillow over your face and start shouting profanities in every language you knew at the top of your lungs. You do this for a full minute before returning to the room and sitting down again as if nothing had happened.

"So…I have a tattoo of a swirly purple and yellow pacifier on my chest now…that's…different," you try to say as lightly as possible.

Reborn snickers, to which you aim a glare at the teen.

Verde nodded, unfazed by your reaction. "We think you were only marked lightly by the curse, which is why you only have a picture of the pacifier stuck to you and not a corporal one."

"On the positive side, you're pacifier you can hide," Luce offered.

Her words made you realize something. You turn toward Reborn with a smirk. Another good thing about this was that you gained some taunting ground on the hitman as well, but that could wait until later.

You heave a heavy sigh and rub the back of your neck. This was an exasperating experience. "So do any of you have a clue as to where this iron hat guy disappeared to?"

"You're _not_ looking for him," Reborn interjected.

"I'll do whatever I damn well please Reborn," you say wearily. You glance down at your arm, finally noticing the bandages. You groan, remembering your vision, and bang your head against the table. You now had two things to look out for.

"Is there something else wrong?" Fon asked kindly.

"Something else?" You ask…like perhaps little Tsuna? Cue another groan. Damn your life was complicated. You had _three_ things that was vying for your attention. " Damn, why does everything have to be so _complicated_?"

"Uuh…Because we cannot go through life without challenges?" Fon offered in confusion.

You send an exasperated semi glare at the teen and rest your head on your arms. Wonderful. Just wonderful. You suppose this is the punishment karma has sent your way for taking on such a position and killing your parents. That or some higher being out there really hated you.

"Could this day get any worse?" You mutter. A sense of foreboding hits you and sends a shiver down your spine. You look up, searching for the source, and see Reborn smirking sinisterly.

Apparently, it was.

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**The next chapter will be out soon!**

**Reviews are lovely!**


	15. Target 15

**And like I promised, a quick update for this chapter! But I must ask (for those who reads this part anyways) do you want me to answer your questions through a PM? Or are you willing to wait till they are answered (be it now or way later down the story)? If you do, then could you say something in your review? I would just answer them the best I could here, but some authors have been reported for that and I'd like to avoid the nuisances. I apologize for not doing so earlier, but if you read my notes at the beginning of other chapters, it's because the bunny attacked me to not spare any moment other than typing up this story and a few of my others.**

**Anyways, I'd like to say a very, VERY BIIIIIG THANK YOU to: DairyMilk chocolate, xxOMGgalxx, Preppy-Stealthy-Ninja, Ling Lariat, Tsukuyomi-chan, alexag98, xxtoushirou, The Mouse Maestro, skidney, givemehugs54, Zehava, and LadyDream3512! And a thanks to everyone who gave any review at all and added up to one of the wonderful 100 reviews that I have for this story that started out as an evil plot bunny bent on driving me crazy!**

**Thanks everyone! I hope you enjoy this chapter!**

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Target 14

You could summarize your overall mood in three words: You. Were. _Pissed_.

This was probably why you were now tied to a wheelie office chair by a Leon rope and being pulled behind Reborn.

How did it get to this point?

Well…

_Flashback_

_Once you saw that smirk, you knew that you had to book it or you would severely regret it. But before you can make it to the door, Leon transforms into a rope and pulls you back._

"_Let me go!" You growl and struggle against your bindings, but you can't bring yourself to fight at full strength since it would hurt the small chameleon. "I'm not sticking around any longer or next time I'll end up dead!"_

"_You're so overdramatic. Besides, I need to guarantee that you won't go after the man with the iron hat, so we're returning to the Sawada residence."_

"_Oh, yeah? And how do you suppose we explain our reverse in age wise guy?" You ask sarcastically._

_Reborn smirked. "Easy, just act like everything's normal."_

"_What do you mean we just go back and act like nothing happened?" You question incredulously._

"_I see no reason to do otherwise," Reborn replied casually, sipping from a cup of espresso that appeared out of nowhere. "We can tell Tsuna and Baka-Giotto the truth, and I already have Nana covered."_

_End_

After that, Reborn forced you on a plane (still tied up) and forced you back to Japan (_still_ bound). From there you went straight to the Sawada household…did you mention that you were still tied up?

Your aura was so dark and practically toxic from your anger/loathing/mood-to-kill-everything-and-anything attitude, that you were pretty sure you saw a few crows and other small creatures that were unfortunate enough to fly through the stifling air, die in a single breath…Kind of reminded you of that little poison cooking girl who was obsessed with Reborn (which earned your pity).

"Ara? Is that you, Reborn-kun and JJ-chan?" Nana asked brightly when she opened the door.

Reborn tilted his hat in a semblance of a hello. "We're back mama. JJ and I ate something that was supposed to help with aging and we became like this."

"Is that so? You'll have to let me try it out one of these days!" Nana accepted easily.

You deadpan and stare at the woman with your mouth open. This woman had actually accepted such a ridiculous story? There was no trace of doubt or suspicion in the woman's aura, so she obviously actually believed in such nonsense. She was no doubt the most gullibly oblivious woman you've ever met. You searched the woman's aura for any traces of a deeper understanding than what she had given you, but were able to find none. If your hands were free, you would have face palmed.

"Woah, what happened to you two?"

You crane your neck around to see Giotto and Tsuna approaching the gate. That's right, school just got out for them. Your mood sours when you remember your whole age issue, and you're sure your expression reflects it. "All his fault." You jerk your head to the hitman holding the other end of the rope.

"Why don't all of you head up to the boys' room and I'll bring up snacks?" Nana offered.

You were finally released from the chair, but when you were about to walk the other direction, the rope returned and you were dragged up the stairs, grumbling curses and death threats all the way. Stupid blood loss. You would have been able to evade Reborn if you weren't so dang light headed.

"So what's the deal?" Giotto demanded the moment his mother left the room.

"Reborn's an ass, but you already knew that one," you chip in.

Reborn narrowed his eyes at you and slapped the back of your head for good measure before turning back to the two kids to answer. "We went on a mission and things didn't turn out as we had expected it to. That's all you need to know."

"Yeah~, that's totally~ telling them the truth," you say. The sarcasm in your tone was so thick it was dripping from your tone like syrup over pancakes.

"I said tell them the truth, not tell them everything," Reborn argued. You grumbled under your breath more, but you don't argue any further, causing the hitman smirk in victory.

"So…why do you look younger than me now?" Giotto asked uncertainly.

Reborn cocked his gun and pointed it at the blond. "Only that one is younger than you now."

You glare at the hitman and swing your leg around in an attempt to kick the teen, but sadly miss. "It doesn't matter if I _look_ younger than you Giotto, I'm still your elder and should be treated as such."

"Nee-chan will always be nee-chan no matter what she looks like!" Tsuna agrees with a nod.

"I knew Tsuna was the only male living here who wasn't a complete idiot," you say smugly.

Reborn tried to hang you upside down for your quip, but Leon and you finally came to a deal, so the little reptilian was once again on your side and released you. You stick out your tongue and flash a victory sign toward the irritated, yet amused, hitman.

"Well, you look really cute as you are," Giotto offered.

You only half pay attention to that compliment since you and Reborn are in the middle of a stare down, loser had to pay for the coffee grounds the winner wanted for a whole month, so it was an important competition that needed all of your attention. While Reborn liked a finer ground for an espresso, you were more of a French press sort of person. So that meant whatever household you were sharing a roof with had to have not only two kinds of coffee, but a few bags of it as well to hold the two of you over for at least a month so you didn't have to keep going out to buy more. Needless to say, there was a lot of coffee wherever you two were living. You and Reborn weren't addicted to caffeine, you two just really enjoyed a good cup of coffee. And no, you weren't in denial.

"But this is kinda cool!" Tsuna chipped in.

This actually made Reborn blink before you, to which you smirk haughtily, letting him know he was going to have to buy your share of coffee this month. But you turn toward Tsuna with your usual apathetic expression. "And why is that?"

"Nee-chan is the same height as me and Reborn is the same height as Gio-nii!" Tsuna pointed out.

"Ack." You look over at Reborn and Giotto and realized that you hadn't just regressed in age, but you shrank as well. Dammit all!

"Nee-chan, are you going to go to my school as well?" Tsuna asked excitedly.

You shake your head. "That's a bad idea."

The child tilted his head to the side in confusion. "Why is that?"

Reborn smirked. "She'd probably assassinate everyone there, well whoever's left from the ones she's poisoned already."

"Ah! Nee-chan, that was your fault?" The brunette exclaimed, swiveling around to stare at you.

You look up and away from the child. "Define 'your fault' and 'poisoned'."

"Nee-chan definitely did it," Tsuna deadpanned.

You tsk. Since when did your adorably little charge gain such a tone?...Not that he was yours to look after…But then again, you did promise Luce- no Aria, that you would…

You groan and rest your head in your arms. Too much thinking. "Why did everything have to get so complicated?"

"How is talking about joining school complicated?" Giotto questioned.

You wave a hand at the child since you're too tired to raise your head. "No. Not school, it was that…but then…and now…so then…erg…"

"Yeah, real descriptive." You look up just in time to see Reborn roll his eyes.

You don't answer. It would be troublesome and you weren't supposed to tell them anyways. Suddenly a beeping filled the room and drew your attention away from the talking.

"What the heck is that?" Giotto asked when he saw you pull out what first appeared to be a remote or GPS of some kind.

"It's my IGTD," you say bluntly.

The three waited for a moment before prompting you to explain further. This comes in the form of Giotto with a, "…And that would be~…?"

"My Idiot Global Tracking Device. I paid Giannichi, an inventor I know, to make one for me. It cost me a hefty sum but if it works, and it should, then it'll be worth every penny. So if you'll excuse me." You cut off the conversation in favor of sliding under the bed and hiding your presence, and not a second too late too.

"Boys! Birdy-chan! Papa's hoome~!" The door burst open to reveal an overly happy blond moron. "Ara? Birdy-chan isn't here anymore?"

"You just missed her," Reborn says sarcastically.

You bite your tongue to keep yourself from cursing aloud. That jerk was purposely trying to give your position away.

But thankfully the blond lug is too preoccupied with Reborn's new look and erupts in a fit of laughing. "So it's true! Reborn is a kid again! This is just too funny!"

You cover your mouth to hide your snickers, but suddenly you are hoisted out from under the bed and hung by your ankle. You glare at the source. "You're just a sore loser you jerk."

"My Birdy-chan is so _cute_!" Iemitsu does a total one eight and is now cooing over you.

You try to burn the idiot alive with the force of your glare, but he doesn't seem to be able to sense the impending doom. Finally you reach your limit and it's out with your guns and off with their safety. "Shut up or die."

Iemitsu gives you an amused look, like one an adult would give a child who was acting arrogant, which pissed you off even more. "I have to say that I'm surprised that you got dragged that far into whatever Reborn was doing. I honestly thought you were anti-social enough to pull yourself out in time."

You growl a little to show that you are displeased with the man's statement. A thump to the side draws your attention back to the other two occupants of the room. You turn to see Giotto now on his rear, pointing at the guns in your hands in shock. Tsuna was shocked as well, but more because he hadn't expected you to turn a couple of lethal weapons on his father at that moment.

"G-G-Gun! You have a gun!" Giotto stutters.

You deadpan. What had the boy been thinking of you this whole time when you said you were and assassin? You roll your eyes and cut the rope still tied around your ankle so that you can flip over into an upright position. "No der, Sherlock."

"What makes you think she wouldn't have any weapons, seeing as she's also an assassin Baka-Giotto," Reborn reprimands.

Iemitsu laughed. "Whatever game you're playing, you should finish up. Dinner will be ready soon."

You watch the man leave. So he was going to pretend he knew nothing about the mafia, huh? You turn towards the now spiritually younger boys. "What does your father do for work?"

Giotto scrunched his nose in distaste. "He's some construction worker."

"Iemitsu," you growl, holding a fist in front of you and a shadow covering your eyes. How dare he have such a position and use such pathetic cover stories.

But, you notice that Giotto seemed to believe the man, though he suspected something else. However, his suspicions weren't strong enough to question his father's explanation any further. Tsuna on the other, _knew_ that he's father's job was a blatant lie. He just chose to keep his mouth shut about the matter.

You turn your full attention toward the younger child, who turns to look at you curiously in turn. "Little one…" (You aren't going to change his nicknames just because of this little…set back. You were still older than them) "You have had a few lessons with Reborn, have you not."

Tsuna nodded, but chose not to speak.

You ignore the other two and continue to study the small child. "…What do you know…of hyper intuition?"

"Um, Reborn gave me this really long explanation I didn't really understand, but I think he means that funny feeling I get in my tummy sometimes," the brunette answered.

You nod slowly to confirm the child's suspicions. You were curious as to why Tsuna, who was a whole five years younger than his brother, had sharpened his intuition to such an extent. It was a great deal stronger than Giotto's, and you were sure that it would continue to surpass the blonde's. It could be a case similar to your own. Tsuna desired to please his family, so he awoke his intuition at an early stage. In your case it was just aura reading, which you read from your family's history that it appeared time to time stemming from your father's side of the family.

If that was the case, then Tsunayoshi had felt a desperate need to become stronger for his family and had awakened this ability haphazardly, and this was dangerous. You had to face the consequences of not getting the proper training for your ability and if you didn't help Tsuna with that, then so would he. You just didn't know what it would be.

Now that you were looking into their connections seriously, you realized how tangled their relationship was. While they had good intentions, their hold over Tsunayoshi was actually a lot worse than the fate your parents had spun over you. This boy wasn't simply bound to them, he was chained. It was nearly to the point where he would be locked away in a cold dark room so that no one would be able to touch him.

You sigh and return your gaze to the little one, noticing that he was concerned. You must have been in your thoughts for longer than you were supposed to. "I'll be training you as well for now on."

Reborn cocked an eyebrow. "Will you really?" He asked skeptically.

You study the hitman and Giotto slowly before answering. "Yes…I'm the only one who can fix what others have wrought with their auras."

Tsuna brightened, not understanding anything but the fact that his one-chan was going to be around more often. "Will you really nee-chan!"

You turn and smile a little. "I will… Otō-kun."

You don't think you've ever seen a happier smile from the small brunette than the moment you uttered that small title.

* * *

**A combo of sinister and sweet for an ending! ;)**

**Reviews are lovely!**


	16. Target 16

**Yay for updates! The 4th of July just passed so I'm exhausted. Families are tiring in large doses, but I guess that's what holidays are for huh? ;)**

**Anyways, I want to say a BIIIIIIG THANK YOU to: skidney, Ling Lariat, SphereShadow, TheKawaiiStar21, Tsukuyomi-chan, xxOMGgalxx, Amplifying Loud, Guest 1, Preppy-Stealthy-Ninja, The Mouse Maestro, anna the viking XD, Guest 2, and DairyMilk chocolate for reviewing! I always love reading them and they spark more chapters!**

**Hope you enjoy!**

* * *

Target 16

"Nee-chan, shouldn't I be in school?" Tsuna asked inquisitively as you lead him through the forest.

"You are," you respond, looking over your shoulder.

Tsuna gave you a funny look that obviously read skepticism, but as he continued to think about it understanding started to dawn on his face. "You're doing what you did at the zoo, aren't you nee-chan?"

You smile at the boy slyly in response.

The small brunette giggled, but tried to take on a stern look. "Nee-chan, that's not very nice to lie. And how am I supposed to keep up with the class if I keep skipping?"

"Easy, I'll be teaching you everything they will and more," you tell the boy.

"Won't Reborn and Gio-nii be mad when they find out?" Tsuna asked doubtfully.

"Not if they don't find out," you sing lightly.

Tsuna shakes his head, but continues following with a smile. "So where are we going?"

"Right up here." You point ahead of you. A few more yards and you two exit the path into a small clearing where Fon is waiting. You wave with a small smile. "Yo, hope you didn't have to wait too long? If you did, it's because this guy was dawdling," you joke, pointing at the boy behind you.

"Nee-chan!" Tsuna protested.

You smirk and ruffle the younger boy's head.

Fon laughed lightly. "I arrived here only moments before you, so worry not."

You nod and turn back to the brunette. "Fon has kindly agreed to help you learn marital arts. Later Lal and possibly Colonello will start teaching you some other fighting styles as well."

"What about you, nee-chan?" Tsuna asks with a slight tilt of his head.

"I'll be sticking to purely educational stuff for now," you inform the child. Tsuna looks disappointed so you feel like you should elaborate a little more. "I don't think it would be the best idea to start training you myself right off the bat. When you're able to fight seriously, then I'll start training you as well. But for now, you should learn the basics from people who specialize in those areas."

"What do you mean?" Tsuna questioned curiously, now a little happier now that he knew you would train him later on. But you look toward Fon for an answer.

"The martial arts I will be teaching you is mostly a defensive fighting style," Fon explains to the little one. "It takes a great deal of patience and dedication to learn it properly."

"Do you know how to use martial arts?" Tsuna questions you.

"Not rea-" You start, but you are interrupted by Fon.

"Your nee-chan has learned several styles and shouldn't be underestimated." Fon sends you an amused look to which you roll your eyes.

"Several styles?" The little one asks, confused.

"Marital arts is a general term to classify several different fighting styles. Some that you may familiar with like Aikido, Judo, Jiu-Jitsu, Karate, Kendo, Naginatajutsu, Ninjutsu, Shinkendo, Sumo, which originate from Japan. Or Kung Fu, which originates from China and Nova Scrimia, which originates from Italy. There are several others out there, but you won't be learning all of them."

"How many do _you_ know, nee-chan?" Tsuna asks excitedly.

You scratch your head. "Um…All of the ones I listed and then a number of other Asian and European ones, but I think I have a couple of random places' fighting styles under my belt as well. But because I have so many, I won't ever be as good as Fon with his Kung Fu or Lal and Colonello with their military fighting styles."

"But because you are so adept with other fighting styles, you can find openings and use moves that we aren't necessarily prepared for," Fon counters.

You cross your arms and shake your head. "That's only true a few times. If I'm facing someone who's mastered one style, I can still be easily out maneuvered."

Fon opened his mouth to dispute your argument, but Tsunayoshi jumped back into the conversation. "So who's stronger? You or Fon-san?"

Fon chuckled. "You don't have to use the honorific Tsuna-kun."

You stroke your chin thoughtfully. "But that's a good question. Half a decade ago, I would have said it was me, but you've come a really long way since there."

"As have you," Fon returned.

You chuckle a little. "At least we didn't lose all those years of training along with our…well, in any case, I'm sure that you've far out passed whatever I'm capable of. And I'm sure that it wouldn't be very fair since I would also fight with a gun and any other weapon I feel like conjuring."

Fon shrugged. "But you have to remember that, that is part of your ability. Just like my techniques are a part of mine."

You shrug this time. "Eh, no way of knowing without an all-out fight, and I don't really feel up to it, so there's nothing we'd learn about it from talking. For now you should get started."

You let the two go a short distance away and start their training while you stay where you are and watch. For some reason your brain conjures a crowd of squealing girls shouting about the small one's adorableness and the cute way he tried to do a certain move, only to fall over multiple times before accomplishing it. It was very annoying and you had the pleasure to create a horde of demons to decimate the pack of irritating fan girls that appeared out of nowhere. You blame Reborn for this. You can bet good money that he paid someone to put that image in your head.

Speaking of Reborn, he's been acting more weird than usual. For whatever reason, he decided that Giotto deserved more 'training' than usual and tortured the heck out of the blond. You don't remember the kid saying anything that could have irked the hitman, then again you weren't around him as often as Reborn was so that could be the reason why. There was also the issue where you didn't care as much compared to Tsunayoshi. There wasn't as many issues that could permanently damage him right now compared to the little one. Besides, Giotto could take care of himself.

A shift in the air draws your attention and then you feel it. It was very faint, but just enough for you to trace where it originated from. The aura was weak, as if something else with a greater amount of malice was choking the life out of it, but at least it was still there. It meant that, that person was still alive.

Without telling the other two where you were going, you took off after the aura. You barely register the Tsuna crying out your name before you are in the heart of the forest and still going further. You wanted to run as fast as you could, but at the same time a small part of you didn't want it all to be just false hope and made you want to turn back. But you keep heading forward, using the trees to propel yourself farther and faster than running on the ground. When you reach a ravine, you only take a second to search for any viable threats before jumping and landing on the ground far below.

You scan the area carefully. While at first you may appear alone, you know very well that someone else was there, someone very important to you…and possibly Reborn, if you were feeling nice enough to admit it. Movement to the side draws you attention, but you are met with something you didn't want to see at all.

"Vindice!" You hiss and jump back a distance, but you don't take out your guns yet.

The hooded figure wearing its signature top hat and bandages regards you carefully, but you give nothing away. "I would say that you've grown, but that doesn't seem the case."

You are confused now. What on earth was the man (as you have now identified him as) talking about? You think you hear a chuckle, but this was _Vindice_ so you probably were just hearing things.

"I can understand your confusion. Perhaps this will help." The man reached up, causing you to tense from suspecting the worst, and he pulled off the bandages covering his face and hat.

You can't stop your shock from showing through now. "…Jacque…"

The man nodded with a small smile. "What have I told you about calling your teacher by my first name, *giovane?" [*young one]

A wave of nostalgia hits you like a snowstorm. How many years has it been since someone, who actually cared, scolded you like that? "You're a…"

He nodded. "I've joined the Vindice now."

"But…And your…"

"Ah, this…" The man looked down at his scarred hand. "This happened when the power within the pacifier was drawn forcibly out of me."

"Shouldn't you have…died?..."

Jacque nodded. "It should have killed me, yes. But I wanted revenge badly enough, where I was able to absorb a new flame created by Bermuda and was able to live on for the sake of destroying the Arcobaleno system and killing Checkerface."

"You never struck me as the kind who would need revenge," you say quietly. Despite your teacher's rough appearance, his personality was just like the calming rain. You used to tease him about looking and acting like a big teddy bear. But now you know why his aura was so faint and smothered by a more negative one.

"And you never struck me as one foolish enough to get yourself stuck in the same position as me," the man countered. He studied your new form sadly. "You're not a complete Arcobaleno, but it seems that you still gained all of the negative effects. But perhaps because of you, this generation is a little bit luckier. At least they'll get to die in their original forms."

You blink. Everyone…was going to die because of this? But, from what you could figure out from what teacher was telling you, if this was all true then the power from all the current Arcobalenos would be sucked out of them eventually as well. "What about me and Lal?"

"You two will most likely die as well."

You grimace and sigh, running your hand through your hair. "Well…it had to happen eventually anyways."

"You're taking this awfully calmly," Jacque noted aloud.

You shrug. "We all have to die someday. Immortality is a fool's dream. Then again, that's the majority for human kind for you."

"What would you say if I said there was something you could do about this?"

You send the darkened version of the teacher you once knew a pointed look. "Jacque, you either do or don't'. You know I dislike that 'what if' crap."

"Just like I've told you a hundred times to call me teacher," the man retorted, but it was all in good humor. "However, I want you to consider this issue seriously. Part of my revenge is for involving my students in this matter."

"How touching," you say sarcastically. "But that isn't something neither of us would have wanted."

"So you're not interested."

"I never said that," you dispute. "I said we didn't need nor want you seeking revenge for our sakes. Living longer is another matter entirely."

Jacque shook his head, chuckling a little. "You're the same as always. I still don't know whether it's amusing that you can say everything with little or no emotions, or if it's a little sad."

You huff. "Jacque, I think it's time that you just cut to the chase now."

"Your interference during the transition of power on the fated day. You may be the key to destroying the whole Arcobaleno system."

You frown a little. "How do you know for sure?"

"We don't, but the Vindice would like to check out your play in all of this."

You're not completely sure why, but you feel a little disappointed. "So the Vindice sent you."

Jacque shook his head. "I came here first to try to convince you to come with me on your own. Bermuda will bring you in by force in a little while otherwise."

You consider the option a little bit, but something doesn't feel right about it, you just can't place your finger on what it was exactly. You sigh. "I cannot go with you Jacque. Even if my disruption has anything to do with this, it just doesn't feel right. You said Bermuda wants revenge. So I honestly doubt that he would just destroy the Arcobaleno system before he got to the man in the iron hat, otherwise Checkerface could just rebuild his system and Bermuda's revenge would be for naught. No…I will not go and be used as some tool for a plan that will most likely end in an even worse way that what my life is already heading for."

Your teacher sighs this time. "That is too bad. I shall take my leave." His bandages and hat is dawned once more before he turns back to look at you. He was now speaking to you as a member of the Vindice and not your teacher. "The next time we meet, I shall no longer come at you as your teacher, but as a fellow assassin."

You nod, ignoring the heavy feeling in your chest and stomach. "If that's how it has to be…"

"Arrivederci, giovane…" A flicker of black flames and the man is gone. [Goodbye, young one]

You sink to the ground, pulling your knees up to rest your elbows on them so that you can grip your head. Maybe your facial muscles are broken. That could explain why you couldn't make yourself show any of the possible emotions that were swirling around what felt like your stomach. You start wondering if you have ever cried. Surely you must have when you were a child, but you couldn't remember anytime. It was almost pathetic. You could barely register your own emotions and even if you do, you can't show most of them anyways. Did you even qualify as a human?

You cough and feel something trickle down your chin, but you don't investigate. You didn't feel like moving. All the sudden it felt like you hadn't stopped moving or slept in a decade. Besides, it was probably just saliva.

You flop back and roll over onto your side and go over everything that had happened that led to this point. Perhaps you should have agreed to accompany teacher. But you couldn't deny that your argument probably hit pretty close to home. Bermuda wanted revenge so badly, that his flame reeked of it.

That's what had been smothering teachers aura. The desire, no absolute _need_ for revenge. It was so bad that it took over that flame and anyone else who chose to wield it as well, fueled even further by the next persons need for retribution.

In addition, if what teacher said was true, then it wouldn't just be the Vindice after you, but the man in the iron hat as well. Should you leave? Staying would endanger Tsunayoshi and the others. On the other hand, would Reborn _let_ you leave? If or when he found out about this encounter, he would certainly make you stay even closer and call the others as well.

You can feel your eyelids closing more than see, you had already unfocused a long time ago. You think you feel a few approaching auras, but you can't bring yourself to care.

The last thing you recollect was someone picking you up and holding you close, and you hoping that they don't ever let you go.

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**So who thought her vision was going to take place when the Vindice first arrived? XD**

**On a side note, there will be romance in this story and not because of the evil plot bunny. No. It will be because of my terminally sick friend who became very un-fragile and threatened me within an inch of my life. For a sick girl, she sure can be scary...Anyways, now I just have to figure out the pairing I want to use.**

**Reviews are lovely~!**


	17. Target 17

**So I feel like I should explain ahead of time the reason my updates are about to get a whole lot slower. You see it all because karma and luck hate me and I was hit by a car...Yeah, not a good day. Good news is that I only have one broken limb out of all of it. Bad news is that it's my right wrist and that I'm right handed. This has reduced my typing capability by...well, a lot. Another piece of good news is that I finished this chapter up and started the next one before I went out and was hit by an idiot. Bad news for that is that it will take me forever to type up the rest of the next chapter. (I realized after I came home with this cast and sat down at my home computer that maybe I shouldn't have neglected my left hand as much as I have)**

**I also want to let readers know that this story is written more toward those who are up to date with the manga. If not, then you can actually look up a bunch of the things (like the teacher) on the Reborn Wiki. Languages used in previous chapters can also be translated through google, but I shall go back and put the translations in there if you don't want to.**

**Anyways! I want to say a BIIG THANK YOU to: LouiseRisa, SphereShadow, TheKawaiiStar21, xxOMGgalxx, Ling Lariat, Guest 1, anna te viking XD, skidney, xxtoushirou, Amplifying Loud, sourapple2000, DairyMilk Chocolate, LadyDream3512, NoMangaOrAnimeEqualsDead, and tora-chan83 for reviewing! It's always great to see people letting me know how they felt about each chapter!**

**Hope you enjoy!**

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Target 17

You didn't hate many things or people in life. Loath, sure, but next to never hate. However for the few that you do, one of them would consist of being rudely awaken by annoying loud noises and another would be being awoken by your mental alarms going off because an annoying person was approaching your personal bubble with impure reasons. It was actually quite easy for others to understand why you react more violently than usual if both take place at the same time.

So when the hand of _that_ man reached for you, you snapped back into consciousness and kicked the sucker as hard as you could, sending him flying through the door and out of the room. You glare at the man, letting your aura of anger flow out in lethal waves. "I told you never to touch me Shamal."

"You are as feisty as ever Signorina," the perverted doctor cooed. [Young lady]

You were about to retort, but yelling drew your attention and a body came flying at you, to which you sidestep it easily. The crash reminds you about the other reason you had woken up so abruptly and you send a glare at the other sources responsible. "Colonello, get out."

The blond laughed. "Sorry, but this time it wasn't completely my fault this time, kora."

"I don't care. Out," you say firmly and point toward the doorway.

"Ah!" You turn around to see Tsuna, followed by Giotto, come down the hallway. "Nee-chan! You should be in bed."

"That's right idiot." A vein pops on your temple and you turn around to see Reborn seated by your desk, having snuck past you during the commotion. "But it seems like you have enough energy to answer questions."

Tsuna was about to argue, but was dragged back to the kitchen by his older brother.

"I only speak seven words in English," you reply aloofly and climb back under the covers, with your back facing the other assassin.

Reborn rolled his eyes. "It's a good thing we aren't speaking English then, isn't it? What happened after you left Fon's side?"

"I went fishing." You were determined to keep what happened during your 'reunion' with teacher a secret.

"You can't lie to me. I know that the Vindice was there." Ooh. Reborn was starting to sound serious. You wonder if he'll get mad at you if you pretend to act scared of him and his bid bad questions. "Did you fight them?"

"Do I appear stupid or suicidal to you," you deadpan. No one was stupid enough to fight even a single member of the Vindice.

"You can't deny they were there," Reborn presses. "And I highly doubt you just sat down to have a chat."

You shut your mouth. Dang, he had beaten you to a nice sarcastic remark. "I fell off the cliff and forgot to brake my fall."

"Don't test with me, piccolo" Reborn growled. [Little one]

Hm. Reborn only used that nickname when he was _really_ serious. "I didn't fight anyone."

"You were coughing up blood when we found you!" Reborn nearly snapped. Huh…So it was actually blood and not spit…oops.

Ooh~. Reborn's aura was telling you that he felt like strangling you because of how frustrated he was now. Let's see how far you can push him.

"No hablar japonés," you wave your hand back and forth in front of you. [No speak Japanese]

You can see a vein throbbing on the hitman's temple now from the corner of your eye. "Don't act like you can't speak Japanese anymore!"

You shrug. "I probably just bit my lip."

"I confirmed that the blood originated from a wound taken to your abdomen that damaged your lungs," Shamal jumped in.

You narrow your eyes at the perverted doctor. "Keep talking and you won't live to see another woman."

"What did they want with you?" Reborn demanded, drawing your attention back to him.

"What did who want?" You counter.

There was a soft chuckle and you look around to see Fon, Colonello, and Lal standing by the doorway. "You shouldn't aggravate Reborn so much."

"I'm not doing anything. Reborn is irritating himself," you sniff in mock indignation.

Fon shook his head with a small smile. "I think you should just answer him. Besides, the rest of us would like to know as well."

"I no speaky your language. Come back again later." So you were going about this on the more childish route. But, hey, you were technically a kid right now.

"Did you break a law?" Colonello asked.

You stick your tongue at the blond. "Je ne s'associent pas avec des idiots." [I don't associate with idiots]

"Piccolo," Reborn growled.

"Je ne parle! Je ne parle!" You cover your ears and turn away as far as you can. [I no speak! I no speak!]

"You would suffer less if you just told us," Fon pointed out.

You sigh. "Such a troublesome lot." You turn around and sit up so that you can face the others. "I honestly didn't fight with the one that showed up. I sensed a presence so I went to investigate. Then a member of the Vindice showed up and gave me a message. After that he vanished."

"What about the blood?" Reborn inquired suspiciously.

You shrug. "After he left I felt tired and coughed, but I didn't think it was blood."

Lal grimaced. "What did they tell you?"

"He told me that I was standing on this ice and to consider my place in all of this before it breaks and I fall into the dark murky waters below." Technically speaking this wasn't a lie. Not that you weren't perfectly capable of lying to the group, you just preferred to stay in their good books.

Reborn's eyes narrowed. "Sounds more like a threat to me."

"A warning at the very least," Fon agreed with a small concerned frown.

"You think so?" You pretend to think about it for a moment before shaking your head. "No. I think they just wanted me to know what would happen if I continued to go against their goals."

"Reborn!" Tsuna finally managed to charge into the room. "What are you doing! Nee-chan is supposed to be resting!"

"That's right Reborn, nee-chan has to rest." A light bulb goes off in your head and you have to resist smiling evilly. You decide to follow through with your new idea of conditioning Tsuna to stand up against the hitman, by using your closeness to your advantage. "Tsuna, Tsuna. Reborn was bullying me too."

Had this been anyone else, they wouldn't have believed you from the lack of anguish or any other emotion on your face when you said that. But this was Tsuna, so the boy immediately believed you and turned to face Reborn with a frown and his hands on his hips. "Reborn, that isn't very nice. You shouldn't pick on nee-chan just because she got hurt and can't fight back."

You press a hand over your mouth and turn away to hide your snickering, fully aware that Reborn is glaring at you. However, you make sure to turn around and act like you weren't doing anything every time Tsuna turned around to look at you. It was honestly very funny to see a small child lecturing a world-renowned assassin like a child, and apparently the other three Arcobaleno in the room thought so too, if the amusement in their eyes and auras were anything to go by.

Tsuna finally let off his lecturing with a huff and turned fully around to face your bed with a concerned expression. "Nee-chan, are you okay? I can get you water or blankets if you want. Or do you want to eat something? Mama should be back soon, so she can make you some soup."

You smile softly. "I'm actually alright Tsuna. I told you I heal fast, didn't I?"

"Reborn said that someone beat you up really bad and that you might die!" Tsuna sniffled, tears appearing on the corners of his eyes.

"He was lying," you deadpan. You sigh and shake your head. "Honestly Tsuna, do I look like I'm dying to you? You really shouldn't take everything Reborn says seriously."

"Really?" Tsuna said with teary eyes.

"Yes. Now cut the waterworks. You know I can't stand it when you cry." You wave a hand up and down to signal to the boy that he should calm down.

"Okay!" And just like that, the tears were gone. The little punk. He was manipulating you as well.

You refrain from sighing again. There is something else you need to take care of right now. "Fon, can you continue what you were doing earlier today?"

The martial artist nodded. "Yes. I suppose you won't be present this time."

You shook your head. "There's something else I need to look into. Are you okay with that too, Tsuna?"

The boy nodded a little sadly. "Will you be back soon?"

You nod once. "I just need someone to repay a favor. I'll be back in a few days."

"Pinky promise!" The small brunette demanded, holding up his little fist with his pinking sticking up.

"Hah?" You replied lamely.

"Pinky promise that you'll always come back." Tsuna was frowning at you in determination.

That you'll always come back huh. Was that a promise you could make, knowing that one of these days you'll probably have to break it? After all, no one can be together forever. If that vision was anything to go by, then you'd probably die on a mission and never come back. But when you look into those eyes you can't help but want to try at the very least. You reach up and hook your pinkie around the younger ones. "I promise to try my best."

* * *

"I want payment."

"And I want picture proof of Reborn doing something utterly humiliating, but we can't all get everything we want," you reply sarcastically with a roll of your eyes. "Since when were you a money hording rat anyways?"

"Since my life was nearly taken away. I realized you were right and I wanted to save up as much as I could while I was still alive," Mammon explained.

You raise an eyebrow at that, but you don't question the illusionist's new motives. "Well, you can consider that wad of cash that I gave you when we first officially met a down payment. I'm expecting you to follow through with your end now."

Mammon considered your argument a bit before clicking his tongue and nodding. "Fine. But if I have to exert more energy than my usual jobs, then I'm charging you."

You shrug. "That just means your abilities aren't as great as you say they are, but do what you wish."

You can practically feel the mist Arcobaleno glaring at you for that comment. "What do you need exactly?"

"First, I need you to swear that everything that happens here will remain a secret. I don't want anyone else knowing about this meeting or what took place here. Can you agree to those terms?"

Mammon huffed a little. "It's your money. I'll see the promise as repaying you that favor."

You nod. "Good. Then I'd like you to help me gain a better understanding of a vision I had."

"You're a psychic?"

You shook your head. "Not really. My foresight extends only to my own death and nothing else. But this time my vision was vague and lacked the detail and clarity that it usually has."

"I imagine that you have been able to avoid death a few times thanks to that." Mammon hummed in thought. "So I suppose what you want me to do is to help you elevate your powers and clear up what you cannot see on your own."

"That's the basic idea. But…" You sigh, lift up your hat, and run your other hand through your hair. "I'm not completely sure that it'll work. But I _need_ to be able to see the details, even for just a moment. Something is going to happen in the near future and I want to have a grasp of the situation to avoid the worst of it."

"Then we should get started right away."

You nod and follow the illusionist to a table, taking a seat across from him. An idea pops into your head and you hold up a hand to pause the other. "Before we begin, I have a job offer that would benefit your new money grubber needs."

"Oh?" Mammon smirked a bit. "Will I be paid well?"

"_Very_ well. You just need to put up with a few annoying fools for it."

Mammon tapped his chin in thought, then broke into another smirk. "As long as the pay is good, then it should be fine. I'll consider this payment for your fee for any extra work."

"I thought you might." You smile a little and motion for the illusionist to continue what he was about to do before.

It was time to figure out Death's accomplice.

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	18. Target 18

**Typing with one hand is a pain! DX Small amounts, okay. Half a chapter, I wanted to smash my keyboard to bits!**

**Sigh.**

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**Anyways, I hope you enjoy!**

* * *

Target 18

You were frustrated. Your session with Mammon gained you only a little more insight. You now knew that there was at least five other people there with several more approaching, but you still didn't know who. You put in an educated guess, from your discussion with your teacher, that the Vindice was the opponent. But, one of the people in the area did not feel like an enemy, so it must be someone you know. However, if it was one of the Arcobaleno, then they could take care of themselves and probably even help you avoid such a fatal wound. So you must come to the conclusion that it is someone completely incapably of defending against the cloaked jailers at all. This meant that it must be one of the children, like Tsuna or Giotto. And if that was the case…well, then you were pretty much screwed no matter what you did.

You sigh and continue walking down that path through the small village you were passing through for the moment. You were currently on your way to Luce's to see if perhaps she would be able to gain further insight in the matter. You had decided to walk as it would be reckless to get a cab, make a phone call, or steal a car in this area. That and you were just too lazy to do any of that stuff. There was the added effect that you just wanted to walk right now and think about everything.

The telltale sounds of a beating reached your sensitive ears and you decide that this would be a good way to vent a small bit of your anger, so you quicken your pace a little and come to a stop in front of an alleyway.

'_Figures_,' you deadpan sarcastically. Sometimes these things were just too cliché for your mood.

You sigh silently and twirl the stick to your lollipop. "I don't condone a gang of adults beating up a kid, no matter what the offense."

The group looks around in surprise, but their looks sour when they only spot you.

"Get lost brat, if you know what's good for ya," one of them growls out.

"Tsk, tsk, tsk." You shake your head. "Is that any way to treat a reputable assassin?"

At this the men laugh. "The little lady thinks she's a big bad hit woman! You here that boy? She's gonna save you!"

You smirk. "Oh what a pity, and here I thought that I should at least refrain from killing you. But perhaps this will help you understand the situation that has befallen you."

You gather mist flames around you and change your form. To others, it would look like an illusion was wearing off and you were growing back into a regular adult form that you should be in. But in reality, you were actually just creating an illusion of your former self.

"Does this help?" You simper.

"Th-The Mockingbird! We gotta scram!" But before they could turn tail and run, they were on the ground and out for the count.

You click your tongue in distaste and let your illusion disperse. "I change my mind. You aren't even worth killing. But you'll be in for a world of pain for the next week at the very least."

"Why did you help me?"

You turn around to see a white haired boy that seemed to be around Giotto's age. You clap a fist lightly onto your palm. "Oh yeah. Someone was getting beaten up. I forgot that, that's what drew me here in the first place"

The boy deadpanned. "How do you forget something like that? I thought they said you were some hotshot assassin."

"Kid," you pull out your sucker and use it to point at the snowy haired child, "you weren't on the top of my priority list and I wasn't really in it to save you, that was just a side bonus. I was looking for people to vent a little bit of my frustration on."

The kid sniffed indignantly. "You should call your elders kid when you're obviously younger."

You flick the kid between his eyebrows. "You shouldn't judge a book by its covers. I can guarantee that I'm at least five years older than you."

"So you're really nineteen years old?" The kid asked skeptically.

"Yup." You stick the lollipop back into your mouth.

The white haired child crossed his arms. "Then, child, you have a condition."

You roll your eyes and hold out a hand. "Hold still for a bit. I want to take care of those injuries before they become infected." Before the other even had time to protest, you had applied your sun flames and pulled away.

The kid scowled. "I didn't need your help."

"And I don't need an ice cream cone, but I'm getting one after this anyways."

"What are you after?"

You raise an eyebrow. "Pardon? What could you possibly have that would benefit me?"

"Exactly, so why help!" The kid demanded.

You stare blankly at the kid. "Are you some kind of new breed of stupid? I just told you why I jumped into all of this."

The kid narrowed his eyes and searched you for signs of deceit, but seemed to find none. "Well…then…I guess I should thank you."

"And I suppose I should say you're welcome, but I won't." Heh. No one ever said you had to be polite to a kid.

Strangely enough, the kid broke out into laughter. He smiled, in a way that reminded you very much of a fox. "You're pretty interesting."

You deadpan. What a weird kid. This drew forth another sigh. You seemed to be attracting a lot of weirdoes as of late. "Since I feel like killing a little more time before I reach my destination, why don't you come with me and I'll buy you ice cream or something."

"So basically, you're using me to stall and as an excuse to as why you're late to a meeting," the kid deadpanned.

"Glad you catch on quick. Now away we go." You honestly try to say this enthusiastically to tease the kid, but somehow everything comes out in your usual bored/emotionless tone. Eh, nobody's perfect, right?

The boy laughed again. "You sure are odd."

…Maybe you should just kill him. Nah, too much work. You lead the way over to the only confectionary shop in the little town and order something for the two of you. "So you have a name, or do I have to keep calling you kid?"

The boy fox smiled at you again. Do any more and you would start finding it creepy…nah, too late. "I'm Byakuran, just Byakuran."

You shrug. The lack of a last name didn't bother you. Who were you to speak when you had rejected your _entire_ name.

"And what about you? Does Miss Mocking jay have a name or do I have to keep call you by your title?"

"First of all, it's Mocking_bird_. Second of all, I don't have a name, so it wouldn't really matter." You take a spoonful of cold treat and chomp down.

"MJ then!" The boy decided.

You deadpan and turn to gape at the boy with the spoon still in your mouth. "Hah?"

"It'll be short for Mocking Jay!" Byakuran informed you.

'_Dear nonexistent Diary. I seem to have had another idiot thrown into my path._' You sigh and decide not to argue. Too much effort.

"Hey, what are these?"

You look over and see the boy pointing to the little white stuff in his ice cream curiously. "Those are marshmallow. Why? Don't like?"

The boy shook his head. "No! They're really good! What are marshmallows?"

"They're one of mankind's' earliest confections. Originally, marshmallows were made from the root sap of the marsh mallow plant or Althaea officinalis. It is a genus of herb that is native to parts of Europe, north Africa, and Asia. Marsh mallows, like its name implies, grow in marshes and other damp areas. The plant has a fleshy stem, leaves, and pale, five-petaled flowers. The first marshmallows were made by boiling pieces of the marsh mallow root pulp with sugar until it thickened. After it had thickened, the mixture was strained and cooled. As far back as 2000 B.C., Egyptians combined the marsh mallow root with honey. The candy was reserved for gods and royalty.

The marsh mallow root also has medicinal qualities. I know that Marsh mallow roots and leaves can work as a laxative. It also was used by early Arab doctors as a plaster to reduce or slow inflammations. Marsh mallow roots were also used in treating chest pains, to soothe coughs and sore throats, and as an ointment. Whether used as a candy or for medicinal purposes, the manufacturing process of marsh mallows was limited to a small, almost individual, scale. Access to marsh mallow confections was limited to the wealthy until the mid-nineteenth century. Common people only tasted marsh mallows when they took pills; doctors sometimes hid the medicine inside the candy to cover the pill's undesirable taste.

There's a whole bunch more to that, but I don't feel like explaining all of that so I'll just skip to how it's made. Nowadays, marshmallows are a solution that is formed by dissolving sugar and corn syrup in water and boiling it. Egg whites and/or gelatin is mixed with the sugar solution. Then the ingredients are heated in a cook kettle to about 240 Fahrenheit. The resulting mixture is passed through a strainer to remove extraneous matter. The mixture is then beaten into a foam to two or three times its original volume. At this stage, flavoring can be added."

"Flavoring?"

"Yeah. There's a range of flavored marshmallows as well. Anyways, then there's a whole cooking process where air has to pumped into the mixture and cornstarch and stuff is added to maintain their forms, then they cool and have the excess starch removed before packaging and shipping and whatnot."

"Wow. These little things are pretty great."

"You think so? It's a little too sweet for me. It's the marsh mallow plant that's the miracle worker. But here," you toss a bag that held a bunch of different flavored marshmallow packages, that you had bought during your half-assed explanation, to the albino. "In any case, I better be off."

You give a motionless wave as you turn around and walk away.

* * *

If they didn't stop laughing in five seconds, you were going to kill them and this time you weren't going to be stopped by the title of the man sitting behind his cherry wood desk. You could think of at least sixty-three places you'd rather be than here right now.

"That's enough children. It isn't polite to laugh at Elda's situation. After all, she is just as capable as she was before." But the old man's smile didn't quite match up with his scolding.

"Nono, shut them up or not even the wrath of Vongola will be able to keep convincing me to not kill everyone in this mansion as well as the surrounding territory," you growl.

To think that even the great scowling Xanxus was brought into gut busting laughter when he caught sight of your new form. Fate had better keep _far_ away from the tips of your fingers or they wouldn't even have the chance to beg for forgiveness.

Nono chuckled. "I apologize on their behalf my dear. We're just too used to your older form and didn't think anything could make you the way you are now."

You huff. "That's not an apology you old coot. And I'm not the only one like this. Reborn and a few others regressed seven years as well. Now could you give me the details of the mission you asked me here for, or I'm going to leave."

Timoteo nodded and handed you a file. "I'd like you to accompany Xanxus on a mission."

"I see that you're looking to off one of your sons, because I doubt he'll come back alive at the rate he's going." You scowl a little at the raven haired boy and his friends who was taking deep breaths to try to calm down.

Nono chuckled. "I trust you to take care of him."

"Bold words for a man to give an assassin with no allegiance to any one famiglia," you say with a raised eyebrow. But you close the folder and put it in a pocket as a sign that you would accept the mission.

The old man took on a contemplative look and folded his hands together, resting his chin against them. "Elda…have you ever considered marriage?"

You deadpan. "Marriage is the last legal form of slavery, so why would I want to get myself tangled in that?"

Timoteo chuckled again. "It seems that in my old age, I've started to want to make sure that everyone is matched with their other halves."

You roll your eyes. "Well no thanks. I don't need that sort of restriction hanging over my head, I get enough of those sort of things with Reborn and the others."

Nono nodded in agreement. "Well, I shall wish you the best of luck. Make sure you do your part as well, Xanxus."

"Yeah, yeah, old man." Xanxus waved his father away, finally back into his regular attitude. He headed toward the exit without so much as a goodbye.

You sigh internally and bow a little to the Vongola Don. "Good day to you, Nono."

"I wish you a safe journey." The old man smiled once more.

You nodded and left as well.

* * *

**Reviews are lovely~!**


	19. Target 19

**So yay! My friend helped me typing this up (after hours of begging)! However, she is being stingy and only typing one story at a time every few days. She also refuses to type my A/N's for me. Sad face. She says that I change my mind too many times and it wears her patience down too much. But this is better than nothing and I am ****extremely **grateful that she's doing at least this much for me. Plus this is an extra long chapter!

**Anyways, I have so many thank you's to say! You guys are so great! But I'd especially like to thank last chapter's reviewers! So THANK YOU: Guest 1, XXOMGgal, tora-chan83, sourapple2000, anna the viking XD, Ling Lariat, Sasuna123, LadyDream3512, Tsukuyomi-chan, SphereShadow, xxtoushirou, skidney, leena456, The Mouse Maestro, Guest 2, zombie gonna get meh, hydro-serpent58 (Kari), NoMangaOrAnimeEqualsDead, DairyMilk chocolate, and TheKawaiiStar21 for reviewing Target 18!**

**My left hand is starting to cramp so I'll leave it at this! Hope you enjoy!**

* * *

Target 19

"Who's the brat?"

Pop goes your temple~!

In a flash of movement you had the red head pinned to the ground with his very own revolver pointed between his eyes. "Don't sass me boy."

Giotto laughed nervously. "Sorry about that JJ. I hadn't told them about your new…look."

You tsk a little, but release the boy. "That's no excuse. Had he been any other street rat, I would have slit his throat."

"JJ?" A boy named Asari asked curiously. "As in…JJ?"

"No, as in Sheila," you say sarcastically. "Yes he means JJ."

"Nufufufu. How is it that you're now…a shrimp?" Daemon inquired.

Your eye twitches. "Can I kill him?" You asked the blond bluntly, pointing at your hopefully soon to be target.

"Ah, no," Giotto sweat dropped.

"So why are you with us today, Miss JJ?" Knuckles asked calmly. "I don't mean to be rude, but usually it is Mr. Reborn who attends these outings with our group."

"Reborn had a special mission requested by Nono to take care of, so he paid me to follow all of you. He actually paid me specifically to not hide in the shadows and watch you discreetly, which was odd, but more money for me." You shrug. Who were you to question the source of more spending money and possible favor for later?

"So do you even have any idea where we're going today?" G asked a little sourly, still a little mad that he had been taken down by a twelve year old (even though you were still technically older than him).

"Not a clue," you reply with a cheerful sort of bluntness. "As long as you guys aren't planning to go off yourselves, I couldn't give a rat's ass about your plans for the day. As long as I get my money and you guys get home alive, it's all good."

"You can be a little greedy thing, huh?" Daemon commented with a sneer.

"Not really. I just prefer not doing things for free…when it comes to certain people." You smirked a little. You loved charging Reborn for everything you possibly could.

"What about us?" Lampo asked.

"Absolutely," you deadpan. This didn't even take a second of thought. There were only a few that you wouldn't _ever_ charge, and they were not one of them.

"How about Giotto here?" A new voice chimed in, clapping a hand onto his blond friend's back.

"Hey Cozart," the blond greeted.

"Hey guys. Sorry I'm late. Enma got stuck in the staircase railing." The red head laughed lightly before turning back to you. "Anyways, what about my question?"

You raise an eyebrow. "Oh? So I only get your name through a secondary source?" You already knew everything about this boy, of course, but he didn't know that and you didn't feel like enlightening him anytime soon. Besides, it was just plain rude.

The red head laughed. "Sorry about that. My name is Cozart Shimon. And you are?"

You study the new boy and consider how you should answer him. You decide to try out your title in Russian. "Peresmeshnik." [The mockingbird.]

The boy started. "Why-"

"But for now you can call me JJ like everyone else," you cut in. "I am here as Giotto and friends' babysitter and not as an assassin. However, I find your reaction amusing. I didn't think your famiglia would have brought you up to date on all of this so soon."

"I…uh…what?" Cozart questioned in confusion. "Aren't you a little young to be an assassin?"

You raise an eyebrow. "I started going on missions when I was three, but I should let you know that I'm really nineteen." You tap the tattoo on your chest in thought. If only because of that stupid event, you should be able to walk around with such ridicule of your current stature. But that thought should be brooded upon later when you were alone. "So what are you all up to today? I'd like to know now whether or not I should just knock you out and fake your memories for the day so that I can avoid the hassle."

Asari laughed. "You and Reborn say the funniest things."

'_And _you're_ and idiot,_' you think sarcastically. You open your mouth to verbally insult the whole group on an intellectual level that they'll never be able to understand until you dumb it down for them, when suddenly a shiver goes down your spine. You hold up a finger. "Hold that thought."

"What are you…?" The blond trailed off in confusion as you suddenly dawned a baseball outfit, complete with helmet and a couple of black streaks going across you face just below your eyes.

But you choose not to answer him verbally. Instead, you hold up a metal bat and take the pose to prepare to hit your oncoming target.

"Batter's up!" You shout and swing with all your might, knocking one of the approaching figures out of the little town and up a good portion of the mountainside. You whistle. "That one got pretty good distance. Too bad it wasn't one of the more annoying ones. What was his name again?"

"Mou~! Elda-chan why'd you do that to pour Levi-kun?" Lusseria popped out of the trees with a few of his other members.

"Ah, that's it." You lean back a little to avoid a barrage of knives, now back in your regular attire. "And I was _so_ hoping I'd hit the annoying royal pain in my ass."

"Ushishishi. Of course you didn't hit me. No one can hit the prince." Bel ran up and started pinching and pulling your cheeks. "Flutter-chan is supposed to play with the prince."

You blink at the new addition of a Japanese suffix to your annoying nickname, but decide to ignore it and whack the back of the child's head, successfully freeing your poor cheeks from more abuse. "And now you stand corrected."

Belphagor grimaced. "No one is allowed to hit the prince."

"And yet I just did," you say with a sarcastic roll of your eyes. "What'chya brats doing here anyways? Don't tell me you came here for a visit, 'cause if you did, I'd like the chance to move to a less annoying Country for a while."

"VOOOI! Don't tell me you're running away!" Squalo demanded.

You pull of the soundproof headphones you put on just before the boy started speaking. "Would you stop annoying me if I say yes? Or am I finally allowed to kill you guys and save the world from an eighth of it's overall damage and idiocy? Actually, speaking of idiocy, what was that Levitate kid doing here? I though he was Xanxus's little mutt."

"Boss ordered Levi to come with us," Lusseria explained.

"We need your help with something," Squalo said in an uncharacteristically serious tone.

You twist around and block an attacking tentacle. "Oho? So everyone but the main brat is here? This must be very serious." Your eyes sharpen and you shift your barrier so that you could get a better read of their auras, only to find you didn't like where their thoughts were going. "It seems that I'm going to have to decline."

Squalo's eyes narrowed as well. "I thought you had no allegiance."

"No, you're right. I don't really care who I work for. But I do have standards and whatever you're all planning for speaks of an ill-fated future. There is too much darkness tainting your auras. I would surely suffocate if I was in the same room as the main source of it all."

"Then you won't be our ally in all of this? What about the other side?" Squalo raised his sword in anticipation, just in case you said you were siding with their enemy.

"This isn't my battle. Keep me and my charges out of it. Simple as that," you replied candidly.

Squalo clicked his tongue in irritation, but didn't seem displeased. If anything, he seemed a little relieved. "Have it your way. Just make sure you don't barge in and go against us, or boss _will_ kill you. Ja ne!" He and the other Varia hopefuls disappeared.

"Be careful with all of this Mammon," you warn the illusionist before he could disappear. "I don't appreciate taking on other people's loads and responsibilities, no matter how forced, for them."

Mammon nodded then disappeared.

"What was all that about?" G demanded, breaking the silence.

You turn around slightly. "Mafia business. A war is brewing."

"A war!" Giotto exclaimed.

You sigh. What a pathetic reaction, but perhaps that's just your stirred up bloodlust from your visitors speaking. In any case, you shake your head and turn back so that you were fully facing the group. "You needn't worry about that. It won't affect any of you here. So! Where're we headed?"

* * *

You sit up abruptly, panting lightly. What was that dream? You pressed your hands over your eyes and try to remember what happened. It was important, you just know it! It had something to do with your vision, like an update or something else along those lines. There was something very specific that could change everything. You just had to remember what it was.

However, you sat there for nearly an hour before relenting. You weren't going to be able to remember what you had dreamed no matter how hard you tried.

You sighed and climbed out of bed, careful not to wake up the sleeping brunette. Tsuna had taken to sleeping with you for nearly every night since you came back in your new form. He said that he felt like you would disappear if he didn't make sure where you were every night. You didn't mind. Tsuna was always small, and now that you were even smaller, you both fit in the bed quite easily.

You yawn a little and get ready for the day. You had a special plan and you might as well get started, especially since you needed to leave before the small brunette woke up.

The thought of what you had in store for the child today brings forth a small smirk.

Today should be entertaining to say the least.

* * *

"Class, we have a new student joining us for today," Suzuki-san said brightly, gesturing toward you.

You twirl the lollipop in your mouth and gaze at all the curious faces looking up at you in boredom. You weren't interested in any of them, except for one fluffy brown haired boy. You smirk a little at his surprised and gleeful expression, but hide it behind your especially confectionary treat from a 'pen pal' in the US.

"Now dear, why don't you introduce yourself to the class?" The teacher said kindly.

You spare the woman a bored look before returning to the class. "Yo. I'm Alayna. Don't bother me and I won't maim you."

The teacher sweat dropped. "Ano…Why don't you take off your pretty hat and take a seat next to-"

You completely ignore the woman and take the only open seat left in the room, which is sadly on the other side of the class from Tsuna, but at least situated in the back. You lean back and cross your arms, staring at the teacher in a way to inform her that she should continue the class while you were in a good mood. You heard the other kids whisper how 'cool' you were and had to refrain from rolling your eyes. What a bunch of idiots.

You sigh internally and shut out everything, including the teacher. You were called on a few times, so you resurfaced long enough to take a quick look at the problem and answer without doing writing it out like others had to (come on, it was basic math and crap!), but this seemed to have earned you the title of 'genius'.

By the time break finally rolled around, your eyes had had enough of a workout from trying not to roll over nearly every comment made. On the bright side, you were able to pelt several of Tsuna's bullies with paperclips, pencils, and sticks of chalk unnoticed. On the other hand, the moment the teacher let the class off for break, your desk was crowded by annoying little twerps you had no interest in. So you stand up, ignore the pack of annoying brats, and walk over to your charge's desk. This takes the class by surprise, but who honestly cared?

"Tsuuuunnaaa~, I'm bored~," you whined, flopping over his desk so that you were facing down. "The teacher talks too much and the other kids are too noisy. Why won't you just skip school with me today?"

"Nee-chan, I have a test today," Tsuna insisted exasperatedly, though you could tell that he was also trying not to laugh at your unusually overdramatic behavior.

"Make fake Tsuna take it. I want an iced coffee." You roll over so that you can hang your head down and still able to look up at the boy (less effort).

Tsuna shook his head with a small smile. "What are you doing here anyways, nee-chan? I thought you said you wouldn't go to school."

You immediately straightened and sent a mock serious face toward the little brunette. "I'm infiltrating enemy grounds."

"Nee-chan, you're in an elementary school," Tsuna deadpanned.

"I know! And there are so many little whelps just begging to be taken care of." You allow a mischievous glint to radiate from your eyes, knowing that the little boy would react seriously.

"Nee-chan!" Tsuna began scolding. "You promised you wouldn't do that to anyone anymore."

You blow a raspberry at the boy. "Boo~ Tsuna's no fun. I just want to beat them up a little. It's not like I'd actually kill them, too much mess to clean up and paperwork to fill out."

Tsuna deadpanned again. He sighed and shook his head.

You chuckle lightly. "Besides, I have to make sure my Otō-kun isn't being bullied anymore, especially when you're going to start training with Lal and Colonello today. Colonello may have a soft spot for kids, but if Lal sees any bruises, she's say it's because you're weak and try to whip you into shape in the matter of a few hours."

Tsuna laughed nervously. "She kinda sounds like Reborn."

"No, no. Lal's much worse," you say frankly. It was your policy to never sugar coat words unless absolutely necessary. "But this is also as a way to apologize beforehand for heading off onto another mission in the next few months."

"What are you doing this time?" The brunette asked curiously.

You smile wryly. "I need to take care of a problem back in Italy. I need to make sure that everything ends in a way that won't affect all of you over here."

Tsuna nodded in understanding, trying to hide his disappointment that you would be leaving yet again, to which you ruffle his hair in apology. "When will you be leaving?"

"I'll be leaving in a month."

"And when will you come back?"

You hummed in thought. "Well, there are actually several issues I have to take care of, so I'll be going back and forth between a few places in Italy…I guess a couple of months."

Tsuna sighed. "Okay. Make sure you're extra careful."

You smirk to this. "Who do you think I am? Even Reborn is weary of me. Besides, I'm not leaving right away, so we still have some time to mess around. You just have to promise me that you'll train your best with Fon and the others without pushing yourself too far. Okay?"

Tsuna smiled brightly. "Un!"

"Good kid." You ruffle the boy's hair once more.

You would do your very best to make sure everything in Italy that was a potential threat to Tsuna was terminated. You wouldn't allow anything else mess with the small bits you had finally managed to fix.

But, until then, you needed to make sure Tsuna was prepared for your departure. You didn't want to leave a sad little boy behind, now did you?

"Dame-Tsuna! Get away from the cool new girl!"

But first…there were still a few more kids you had yet to 'punish'. You were sure that a sadistic gleam was flashing through your eyes.

"Nee-chan, no!"

* * *

**This chapter needed a little Tsuna cuteness, so I ended it like that for you guys! ;)**

**Reviews are lovely~!**


	20. Target 20

**I've decided that jobs suck and broken bones suck even worse. xp**

**Anyways, I want to say a BIG THANKS to: skidney, TheKawaiiStar21, SphereShadow, tora-chan83, tazdevil, , Tsukuyomi-chan, sourapple2000, Ling Lariat, LadyDream3512, alexag98, xxOMGgalxx, anna the viking XD, xxtoushriou, hydro-serpent58, and saphire644! You're review are what kept me going when most days I just wanted to lay around and do nothing but glare at the itchy cast.**

**I hope you enjoy this chapter!**

* * *

Target 20

"Why are you following me?" You growl as politely as you can, your eye twitching in annoyance.

"Silly MJ is so much fun to be around," Byakuran said with his fox smile, his hands folded behind his head.

"You should really go find someone else to bother," you tell the boy for the umpteenth time.

Byakuran hummed in mock thought. Mock because you can tell from his aura that he wasn't in the mood to leave you alone anytime soon. "Don't wanna!"

It took a lot of energy for you to not blow your top. Even though you saw that response coming from a mile away, it still pissed you off. Byakuran had been following you as you traveled back and forth between the Vongola, Giglio Nero, and your own informants for the past month now. He never went all the way (you'd finally have an excuse to kill him if that were the case), just in between towns. You were starting to appreciate Xanxus and the rest of the potential Varia brats right about now.

While Byakuran hadn't done anything to you physically, he was a tricky kid with a dangerous mind. Perhaps, if you had met the boy before you met Tsuna, then you two could have hit it off smashingly. But as it was…You needed to make sure you were wary of him. There was something about him that you just couldn't bring yourself to trust completely.

However, Byakuran seemed to have gained some small attachment to you, which was odd because you didn't really think you did all that much. But there was no doubt that what you were reading from his body language, and more importantly, aura was a form of affection and possessiveness. He seemed to enjoy how you would be able to counter his conversations with witty or sarcastic responses and that you could keep up with all of his mind games. Frankly speaking, this was probably because Reborn and you had a hobby of twisting other peoples' minds as well as playing with each other's.

"Don't you have…I dunno, other brats you could go and bother right about now?" You inquire.

"Maybe~!" The boy sang.

You resisted the urge to slam your head against a wall multiple times. It wouldn't do any good for whatever business or home you end up taking down from the force.

So you continue as you are. This was probably going to be one of the longest missions of your life.

* * *

You were…upset.

Clearly and defined as upset.

To see such bitter emotions pass the eyes and aura of the young one was…saddening. He grew up in a kinder and warmer environment than you and yet…

Since when had the child started to harbor such feelings of resentment towards his father? Granted, the man was a complete moron and bore every ounce of contempt that you could produce, but still…Tsunayoshi was only a child of eight.

On the other hand, it wasn't completely Tsuna's fault. The oldest blond idiot was away the majority of the year, only coming home half a handful of times, and breaking numerous promises to return when doing so. And when he did return, all he did was lay around, eat, laugh obnoxiously, and all the while drink 'til he passed out.

You congratulated Nana on her spectacular ability to be completely oblivious to her husband's blatant lies as well as the darkness harbored in her children's heart whenever the man was merely mentioned, though Giotto's anger was a great deal less after he learned the truth about the man's position within the Vonogla, but there was contempt for the man nonetheless.

Personally, you hated how the man wore such ridiculous outfits and told such preposterous lies. Reborn and you had agreed not to let the man know that Tsuna knew about the mafia as well, but that did not give the man permission to be a complete moron when he 'explained' his jobs to the little one. Really, who directed penguin traffic in Antarctica for Pete's sake! You could nearly snap off the man's head every time he mentions his damned excuse.

You had too much on your plate already to worry about this idiot's lack of family understanding as well. The soon to be-, well you have to acknowledge that those brats have taken over the positions as the new Varia group for a year now. You should really stop calling them the soon to be when they already hold the title. But that was beside the point. Those Varia brats were going to try pulling a coup d'état and if they pulled through, then that could potentially put the occupants of the Sawada household in danger, which you really didn't need right now.

Even though Vipe- Mammon was feeding you information secretly, you still weren't sure how to go about this whole thing. Information that you had gathered when you first met the rash boy, only made things more difficult. You could tell by the two's different aura wavelength that Xanxus and Timoteo had absolutely no blood relation, and upon questioning the old man later, he confirmed this. However, this made planning a course of action more serious.

You flopped down on your bed in the Sawada household, completely exhausted. You're only back because of your promise to Tsuna. You could have probably stayed in Italy for another four good months with all the problems that you were helping to take care of. But you were sure that Reborn would have called you back soon anyways.

"Choas."

You deadpan. Speak of the devil and he shall appear. You look over your shoulder without raising your head. "And what, o' mighty hitman, do you want of little old me?"

Reborn leaned against your doorframe with his arms crossed. "We have visitors, so get moving."

You suppress a groan. While you didn't let jet lag affect you on missions, that didn't mean you weren't affected at all. "Tell them I died." Suddenly you find yourself hoisted up and tossed over a sharp shoulder. You immediately start struggling to get out of the hitman's grasp. "Dammit Reborn! Let me go!"

But Reborn doesn't answer, instead just carries you all the way out to the kitchen and dumping you on the ground. You nearly swore on impact, but bit your tongue since Nana was present. You're forced to settle with glaring at the man.

"Nee-chan, are you alright?" The little brunette asked in concern.

You bite your tongue to keep surly yourself from making a sarcastic comment and nod to the boy. You glance around the room and notice that the house lacked these so called guests. "Oi, idiot with a bad sense of fashion. There's no one visiting, so why'd you drag me out here."

"Wait for it…" Reborn trailed off. And three seconds later the doorbell went off.

Nana went to go answer and returned with G and a little silver haired kid that looked nearly identical to him trailing behind.

"Sorry I'm a little late, Giotto," G said with a crooked smile. "My brother and sister wanted to come along as well."

"Primo! It's an honor to see you again!" The silver headed little boy called out. You guessed that he was about Tsuna's age.

More importantly…You raise an eyebrow at the blond. "Primo?..."

"Ah…Hayato gave me that nickname after our first meeting apparently," Giotto mumbled in embarrassment.

G jumped in to elaborate a little more. "I think it's a form of endearment and respect."

"Pfft." You press your fist to your mouth to hide your laughter. The idea of showing the whiney blond and respect was hilarious.

"Who are you?" The silver head kid cut in rudely.

You stare blankly at the kid. Dear lord. Please don't let this be another loudmouth brat. You got that enough from the Varia. "Pardon? Since when did I have to introduce myself to a rude brat?"

"You should show the Mockingbird a little more respect, Hayato," Reborn said calmly with a smirk.

"The Mockingbird!" The youngest Gokudera brat shouted. His eyes started glittering and he took on an air or worship around his as he gazed at you.

You sweat drop…It was a little creepy.

"Reborn!" A girl with pink hair ran out from behind her brother and tackled the hitman. The sight of a fellow female hugging the sadist made you want to barf.

"Reborn, Bianchi, tone down the PDA levels," you cross your arms to show disproval.

"You!" Bianchi shouted venomously.

You roll your eyes. "Well didn't _my_ day just get that much better. And how may I help you today?"

"You're with Reborn again I see. So you lied!" Bianchi uncurled one arm and pointed at you dramatically. "You're always together so you _must_ be in love with Reborn as well."

Must be…in _love_…with…Reborn…

There are very few moments in your life where you actually broke down into legitimate laughter. Actually, you could count every single occasion on one hand and still have room for more. But today, you added one more to that count.

You doubled over in laughter it was so bad. "In…love with Reborn?..._Reborn_?" You couldn't even speak coherently you were laughing so hard. "Oh my gosh!...S-Stop! It hurts!…Oh god that's too funny!...Reborn!...Ah! My stomach! No, no! Stop! Stop! Stop!"

You fell to the ground and rolled side to side.

"That's just too rich!...Me in love with Reborn!...Oh god! I can't take it, it's so hilarious!" You banged your fist against the ground repeatedly. "I think I'm gonna die, I'm laughing so hard!...Reborn! _Reborn_! HA! That's just too good!"

Not even Reborn stomping down on your back could stop your yowling laughter. And every time you started to calm down, you would look up and see Bianchi and end up on the ground clutching your stomach and howling with laughter all over again.

But then everything went bad. No. It was horrible.

One second you were clutching your stomach while trying to stand up straight, the next you were standing, but everything was…huge.

"What the hell just happened to me!" You shout. You hold out your hands and gasp in horror, feeling your face to confirm and find chubby cheeks. "Why am I a baby! And why is Reborn and adult again!"

"It's proof that I'm your superior," the hitman said smugly.

"Fix this immediately!" You demand.

Reborn rolled his eyes. "How am I supposed to know what happened, fix it yourself."

You can feel your temper rising and you open your mouth to hell at the jerk, when suddenly _you_ are the one standing over _him_. "HA! Who's the baby now?"

You block Reborn's kick with a single hand and a very smug look. But your amusement is short lived when Reborn lands on your foot. You don't wince (you've been through worse injuries) but it does piss you off. However, when you open your mouth to hiss something at the hitman, all the sudden your situations are switched again.

Your eye twitches. "This is a problem," your growl.

For once, Reborn is serious and agrees. "We should go find the others and see if we can figure out what's going on."

"Nee-chan, Reborn, what's going on?" Tsuna inquires worriedly. You could almost die of shame when he picks you up.

"Why is JJ a baby now?" Giotto asks as well, looking oddly distressed.

"Dammit all," you mutter. "It must be the disproportional balance. This is why I _never_ should have allowed you to drag me along. Now I'm condemned to a life of humiliating body proportions and even more condescending fools."

"We're leaving," Reborn replied shortly and headed toward the door. You hopped up onto his shoulder to hitch a ride, thankful that he didn't shove you off.

The two of you head off without another word, and you grumble all the while. After a few quick calls, Reborn starts heading toward the shrine where the two of you wait for the others to arrive.

"What happened to you, kora!" Colonello choked out through his laughter when he set his eyes on you.

You reply with an accordingly kick to the face. You're sadistically happy to see that despite your size, you still have a great deal of the same strength you had before, which meant that the blond idiot was sent flying back a distance.

But the moment is ruined when Reborn picked you up by the back of your collar like you were some kitten. "Hey! Put me down!" You protest angrily.

"Calm down you idiot," Reborn nearly snorts and tosses you toward the newly arrived Luce.

"I'll kick your ass for that Reborn!" You shout at the irritating punk.

"But it is quite odd," Fon cut in. "Verde and Luce said before that we were supposed to end up as infants, but why is it that JJ has taken on this form and why now?"

"Perhaps we should wait for Verde before we jump to conclusions," Luce said with a soft, and slightly amused, smile.

You huff and roll your eyes. You don't know why you're feeling so irritated, but now that you have these emotions going, you can't seem to be able to stop. The good side of this was that displaying negative emotions didn't affect your barrier. You count your lucky stars that no one with malicious intent was around when you were laughing, or you may have been in a lot of trouble.

"Where's Mammon?" Skull whines.

You blink and look around. The stuntman was so low on your awareness radar that you hadn't even noticed his arrival. But you decide that you should let the other's know about the mist Arcobaleno's whereabouts so that they didn't give him trouble later. "Mammon won't be coming. It would be disastrous for him to leave his post right now."

"Then we can get started." You look around to see Verde emerging from the forest atop some transportation device that he had created. "I came up with a hypothesis after we first departed after our final mission, but I haven't had any further incidences that I could evaluate to confirm my suspicions."

"If you're looking for a new guinea pig, then you've got another thing coming bub," you growl.

Verde smirked, but shook his head and pushed up his glasses. "It is unneeded at this moment. Rather, I believe that we should just test out my theory instead."

You narrow your eyes suspiciously. "And what would that be."

You're really starting to hate people smirking at you right about now.

* * *

**Bleck :p. Tired. I'll update my others stories soon too.**

**Reviews are lovely!**


	21. Target 21

**Aaah! I'm going to die from the overload of ideas, but the inability to type them down on my own right away! Sigh. If any of you actually want to know the details of my distress and why chapters are going to have more waiting time, then you can check out my author's profile. Most people don't care to read the A/N's here so I'm not going to bother putting it here this time.**

**To all my lovely reviewers, I must say a big ありがとうございました(Arigatōgozaimashita), DANKE, 고맙습니다 (gomabseubnida), THANK YOU for taking the time to say something about this story. So tora-chan83, xxOMGgalxx, I Know I'm A Dreamer, SphereShadow, kimichee, TheKawaiiStar21, skidney, saphire644, xxtoushirou, anna the viking XD, Mizuki99, alexag98, DairyMilk chocolate, and blacklightningwolf, thank you! Your reviews are more ****inspirational **than you could ever imagine!

**I hope you enjoy this chapter!**

* * *

Target 21

"So let me get this straight. You want me to step into that machine, which has probably only been tested a couple of times and with only minor animals as test subjects…?"

Verde nodded.

"And then you want me to trust all of you to analyze chemically stimulated emotions that'll cause me to go through major abnormal mood swings?"

"Yes."

"And even though allowing these emotions through, I'll be losing my barrier and opening myself up to the world, I should believe in the assumption that all of you will be able to block the worlds' aura completely out?"

"Correct."

"Uh huh…" You nod slowly. "Goodbye." You then turn around pointedly and start walking away.

"Don't you want to know how to get back to at least the form we were all change to before, if not our original forms?" Verde questioned, slightly surprised that you would turn down his proposal without at least a small amount of consideration.

You deadpan a little. "And risk me becoming a lab rat? I think I can cope as a baby. There are tons of ways I can manipulate others and make them underestimate me as I am."

Reborn smirked. "You sure you want to deal with the downsides of being an infant as well?"

You smirk in return. "Otō-kun will get mad at you if you do anything."

"Only if he finds out," the hitman threatened.

You cross your arms. "You'll find that I don't believe that tattling to a child ten years younger than myself, is beneath me."

"You sure know how to take this acting like a child stuff to a whole new level, kora," Colonello commented.

"It's not acting, she really is just a child," Reborn mocked.

"Says the guy who likes to dress up in weird costumes to stalk his student," you mutter, though not too quietly.

"At least I don't pretend to be one of the students at a primary school so that I can stalk a child."

"Yeah, like forcefully taking over the position of a teacher for parent's day was so much better," you scoff with a roll of your eyes. "Besides, at least I don't have to constantly threaten _my_ student in order to persuade him to train properly."

HA! That point goes to you. You stick out your tongue and pull down your lower eyelid at the man. However, this lead to you being hung by your ankle thanks to an irritated Reborn. You don't bother wasting any energy required to scowl, you had seen this reaction coming a mile away. On the other hand, you couldn't completely suppress the foreboding shiver that trailed down your spine when Reborn looked at Verde, then smirked at you…

Yeah, this was just not your day…

* * *

"You complete asshole, let me down!" You shout angrily, trying your best to kick the idiot's hand off your ankle, but failing thanks to a protective cover. Your shouting only succeeds in getting you stuck in the stupid glass chamber, which turned out to be nearly unbreakable from the inside. You yell a number of insults and curses in every language you can think of as you beat against the sides, but come out as unsuccessful as the first time you were placed in the stupid thing three hours ago. This is now the twenty-sixth time you've been stuck in here. "You're all asses! You hear me! Asses!"

"I really think you should knock it off, Verde, Reborn," Fong repeated for the umpteenth time since they started with a small uncharacteristic frown. Even Luce had ceased smiling.

"No way, this is too fun, kora!" Colonello laughed out.

"Not to mention that we have gathered a great deal of data through this," Verde added.

You sent the deadliest glare you could muster. But you cannot deny the scientist's claim. Even through your whirlwind of emotions that you hardly ever used (and frankly, never thought you were ever possible in displaying), you were able to make your own observations on the matter at hand. Though it wasn't clear how the fluxes in you different emotions worked with the curse, you were able to figure out by now that your emotions had some sort of affect. During this whole process each of you have taken a turn as an infant, you more often than the others though.

You were able to discover a few clear connections. When you were angry beyond reasoning, Fon and you were able to exchange forms. When you were giddy, it was you and Reborn. When you were sad, it was you, Colonello, and Lal. When you were feeling serene, you and Luce. When you were feeling sadistic or, for a lack of a better term, fuzzy, it was between yourself and Verde. And of course the feeling of wanting to be alone or aloof was between Skull and you. Easy to remember, but annoying nonetheless. You were also willing to be that the emotions full of trickery and mischief would have you exchanging forms with Mammon.

However, this did not mean they were allowed to torture you for this long, especially when the effects became pretty clear within the first ten minutes! Plus, using excessive amounts of laughing gas and other chemicals to stimulate a more exaggerated mood swing was probably going to leave a lot of side effects for you to deal with later on. You were about to demand that they set you free again, but then you cough and double over.

"That is enough!" Luce nearly snapped as she stepped in. She had finally reached her limit.

Reborn smirked. "She's just faking."

You cough some more and fall to your knees. Blood trails down your lip.

"Let her out!" Fon joined in.

"You proved your point hours ago," Lal added.

"Yeah!" Skull piped in, only to quiver in fear behind Fon when Reborn and Verde sent a glare his way.

You see Reborn refraining himself from sighing and cough some more. Verde huffs a little, but relents under the glowers of the three.

The moment you hear the door unlock, you're out of the contraption and breaking it apart before you can be thrown back in. "Ha! Freedom!"

"Told you she was faking," Reborn grouched.

Fon smiled fondly and stepped in before you could retort (probably very violently) and act upon your pent up anger. "I think it would benefit you to calm down. As Verde gathered before, by allowing your emotions to run wild, so will our changes."

You cuss in several languages and storm off into the forest. Several explosions and 'mysterious' craters that sent animals running for miles, you take a deep calming breath and focus on calming down, emerging only when you were sure you had a grasp on your emotions again.

You smirk maliciously. You had a theory about this whole changing form due to your mood thing, and you were going to test it out. If it worked like you hoped it would, then it would be the perfect revenge. The moment you rejoin the group, you closed your eyes and focused on your emotions in general. When you opened them again, you were sadistically pleased to see that all eight of the Arcobaleno were infants.

"Hmph," Verde studied his hand thoughtfully, calculation for something you didn't care to find out about running through his eyes. "Did you do that on your own accord?"

You let your face fall back into your normal, and frankly more comfortable, neutral expression and nod once. You tap your chin thoughtfully, then reach down and pick up Lal and Luce, setting them down a little to your left. Next, you picked up Fon and Reborn, setting them about a foot away from the two girls. Then you place Verde a foot from those two. Next was Colonello, then lastly Skull.

You nod to yourself. "There."

"What are you doing, kora!" Colonello demanded, a bit peeved that he could be picked up.

"I'm rating you by how cute you are as a baby," you reply apathetically. You may not usually care about the looks of something or someone, but you did have the ability to tell what was and wasn't pleasing to the eye. Why else would Tsuna be able to manipulate you with his puppy-face?

Reborn clicked his tongue almost inaudibly. "You're being sexist then if you put the two women in front."

"Damn right I am," you agree easily, crouching down in front of them while resting your elbows on your knees and your head on your palms. "At least I'm not rating you guys by how much I trust you. I'd have to find a way to ship Reborn and Colonello all the way to Jupiter. But I have to admit, while I find your sideburns absolutely ridiculous and quite laughable, as a child you look rather adorable with them. It's too bad for you that you irritate me so much or I would probably give you the same treatment as Tsunayoshi."

You take a deep breath and return the others to their original forms before anything else could be said. You fall back onto your rear and try to calm the erratic beating of your heart. "That took way more energy than I thought. Note to self, don't try to change the forms of everyone to make myself older again."

Verde hummed and jotted down your mumbling. "So changing all of us uses up your own energy. But when it's just a change between one of us, then the power distribution is even and doesn't require any of our own…Interesting. I must find out what this means."

You wave a hand, finding yourself more out of breath than you care to show through a verbal reply. It was taking a great deal of effort not to fall back completely as it was.

…Oh screw it. You flop back and close your eyes, completely ignoring the others now. Maybe you could just take a nap while they discuss their findings? That was a nice thought.

The irritating vibration and ringing of a cell phone went off abruptly.

Of course you couldn't take a nap, what else was new (Oh sarcasm, you're such a good friend). You sigh and take out the device, holding it close. "Speak."

"The date is set. One week from now, they will strike." There was a click, indicating that the person had hung up.

You sigh heavily. Yeah, this was definitely just _not_ your day.

* * *

_Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap._

Whoever was making that insistent tapping had better stop soon or they would be eating bullets in the next few seconds. But the tapping continues and you can't bring yourself to investigate, playing with the pen in your fingers as you contemplate the situation back at Vongola HQ instead. You could always slap the person later (so long as it was anyone but Nana).

Someone starts talking, but you ignore them. They probably weren't even trying to converse with you anyways. The person says a few more things, getting a little more irritated each time you notice.

Suddenly, there was a sharp tug from your fingers and you look down to see your pen broken and bleeding its ink all over your hand and desk. A bullet was ingrained in the wood a short distance from you, smoking a little.

You sigh a little and look up at the only person you know who would actually pull such an action. "Is there something you need, Reborn?"

"You wouldn't stop that irritating tapping," he grouched.

You blink slowly. Oh? So the tapping had been coming from you. Were you really that out of it? You stand up with a sigh and clean up the mess. There wasn't really anything else you could think about. What must be done is obvious enough, anymore thinking would be pointless by this point.

"When and how long?"

You're tempted to sigh again, but refrain yourself. You had been doing a lot of that ever since you came to Japan with the hitman. But, these questions were expected. Reborn always seemed to know, the stupid nosy bastard. "I'm leaving tonight and I'm not sure when I'll return. It all depends on the backlash that will occur when I run interference I suppose. I'm surprised you of all people aren't coming with me."

Reborn crosses his arms and leans against the wall. "No need if you're there. That punk is more likely to listen to you than me anyways, that and I'd probably just shoot him and get it over with."

You roll your eyes. "Right, and I'm just _so_ soft hearted," you reply sarcastically. "I'll say goodbye right now so you don't give me any extra grief when I get back. Well, at least you can't put it under that pretense anyways. Later."

"You better be back in time for my birthday." No matter how childish that sounded, the 'or else' was still unneeded.

You sigh. What a pain.

* * *

Your pace is almost leisurely as you head through the forest toward the thin streams of smoke trailing up a short distance away. You aren't surprised by the lack of security, you didn't even need to even bother to hide your presence. You hear several explosions and the popping of gunfire, steadily getting louder as you approached. The imbeciles were even shouting out their frustrations and instructions, the moronic fools.

You pause on the very edge of the clearing, where your form was still hidden in the shadows and went unnoticed by the two warring sides. You close your eyes for a moment to gather the last of your thoughts and open them slowly, you 'game face' (or lack thereof) set in place.

With a pistol in each hand, you finally step out and make your presence known to the rest of the Vongola and Varia alike. "Hello boys."

* * *

**A little jumpy, but again, moving through time quickly.**

**Reviews are lovely~!**


	22. Target 22

**I'm so exhausted as of late, so after I upload this, I think I'm going to go pass out and not get up for a couple of weeks.**

**I want to say a ****Big**** THANK YOU to: kimichee, leena456, SphereShadow, xxtoushirou, xxOMGgalxx, anna the viking XD, blacklightningwolf, Secret29, alexag98, TheKawaiiStar21, Namikaze Hatake, and I Know I'm A Dreamer for reviewing! In my bouts of 'I don't want to do anything!' I remember your reviews and find it in me to type at least a little bit everyday until I can put out a full chapter. So thank you! You guys are keeping my inspiration to write alive!**

**I hope you enjoy this chapter!**

* * *

Target 22

"The Mockingbird. It's the Mockingbird!"

"What's she doing here?"

"Friend or Foe?"

You cock an eyebrow. You could clearly hear their whispers, yet they continued to question each other about your appearance and grew excited. That is, until they realized the other side was growing excited as well. Then it was all questions 'behind you back' about which side you were joining.

You were tempted to roll your eyes at their stupidity. " If you'll excuse me, I have a meeting with the Ninth and I'd like to get that taken care of quickly as possible so that I may be on my way again."

Their dumbfounded expressions were laughable. You could read the 'she isn't here to help with our internal battle?' on their faces quite easily.

"Master Xanxus has declared war on the main house for the title of Vongola Decimo!" One of the Varia grunts shouted out. "Will you aid us?"

"If you join the Varia, then you shall be eliminated by the Vongola!"

Your eyebrow inches higher.

"Once the Varia wins this battle, you won't have to worry about that nonsense! Master Xanxus will surely reward you greatly!"

"Nono would reward you even greater for your assistance!"

Your expression sours. These idiots _obviously_ had no idea how this freelance thing worked. The two sides continue their verbal war while you just strolled by with your hands in your pockets, guns hidden away. They weren't even worth the time of knocking them unconscious. They only recognized you because you were borrowing Skull's form so that you could be in your adult form, otherwise they would have probably overlooked your appearance completely.

Idiots.

You walk leisurely through the halls of the thoroughly destroyed mansion, easily avoiding stray bullets. There was couple of times that you ended up having to bend 90 degrees backwards, as if you were doing the limbo, in order to avoid one particular barrage of bullets. But you maintained a bored and relaxed state the whole way through despite that.

You glance around, taking your time to locate the two auras you were searching for. You grumbled in irritation when you realize that they were both _way_ under your feet. You really didn't feel like trying to find some secret passageways, avoiding traps and other irritating obstacles along the way.

You take a deep breath and focus your own aura around your eyes. The next time you open them, you're able to see aura trails.

Unlike the aura others like Reborn were able to per perceive, which stems from dying will flames, the aura you are able to discern was less…tangible. While it is true that dying will flames are energy, it is more comparable to a rechargeable battery. You are always able to replenish that energy. The next level of dying will flames is life energy, where you give up your very life to use your flames to the fullest. Aura, which everyone has, comes from what you could only describe as the 'soul' of a person. It cannot be hidden by rings or years of experience; just made less noticeable to the majority of the world. This more imperceptible aura was naturally guarded through not only physical means, but by layers of dying will flames.

This is why your ability was unique and extremely dangerous. In exchange for the ability to see this highest and impalpable aura, you had to leave your own 'soul' open to the world. You had of course, trained your ability until it was more like a small opening in your flames. However, if by some dumb luck, someone managed to even scratch you with a little bit of their flames then you were as good as dead. A 'soul' could only take so much damage before it was irreparable and disappeared for good, and yours had been exposed ever since you were young and forced your ability to come out before you knew all the negative attributes and could properly train it to a safer degree (another reason to get back to Tsunayoshi as quick as possible).

You take a steadying breath, already feeling some of the negative effects of using your technique, and start following the trails of the two varying shades of orange. There were other colors and details to the aura trails that told you specifically who you were following, but since orange/sky was so rare, you didn't really need to examine the trails any further than the main color.

You follow the 'soul prints' all the way to the basement, using the signature to figure out where the traps and other issues with the path were. As you continued, the path became increasingly more destructive. You whistled under your breath at the amount of vicious power the younger of the two sky flame users were using. There were actually pieces of the ceiling that was starting to fall.

You step inside a cavernous room, which once may have been a grand underground structure for the darker social gathering, but now lay mostly in ruins. Marble pillars were scorched and falling apart, a few laying on their sides, crumbling into oblivion. The tiled floor was shattered with burnt edging around many of the holes plowed through. Several men lay either unconscious or dead, scattered around the great hall.

You easily spot Squalo's white mane leaning against a pillar, clearly awake and in shock. Apparently, you weren't the only one who knew of Xanxus's and Nono's secret anymore.

No matter.

Both remaining males were taking on a battle stance, the younger making a dash for the old man. It was either act now or live with the consequences, and you didn't feel very tolerant right now. Faster than normal people were capable of detecting, you dashed in and punched Xanxus into the ground.

You stare blankly at the younger boy, who was just realizing what had happened. "I would stay down if I were you brat." You turn halfway so that you could meet Nono eye to eye. "I don't really hope you don't mind a small interlude to your little squabble."

Nono blinks, but takes everything in his stride and gives you a small curt nod.

You turn back to Xanxus who was not heeding you advice in any shape or form. "Did you not hear me boy?"

The raven scowled. "I should have known you would take the old man's side."

You raise an eyebrow. "Apparently I gave you too much credit if you would assume that much. Only fools don't know how a freelance assassin works. I merely had an appointment with Nono today, and all of your little family spats taking place around the estate are getting in my way. I neither care for your petty little arguments, nor do I wish to take the time to sort them out."

"Then why are you all the way down here?" Xanxus barked.

You roll your eyes. "Nono is down here, as I already explained. If you mean to ask why I am interfering right now, it's because a bit of your argument has caught my attention. You see, I heard from a loud birdy that you plan to kill all the other candidates for Vongola Decimo after you take out Nono, and frankly this would be troublesome for me as well. I'm currently looking after the two of them, and even if Nono were to die, I would still be bound to protect the two of them and dealing with a lot of extra assassins would be so bothersome. So I decided investigate and see what I could mess with so that things will go my way."

Xanxus clicked his tongue angrily. You could tell that he was frustrated with this new knowledge. He knew very well that you and Reborn were a force to be reckoned with and it would be impossible for him to carry out every level of his take over if the two of you were guarding the remaining candidates. He may have been able to work around Reborn, seeing as the hitman was tied to the Vongola family, but you were a more slippery character. Your allegiance only went as far as your job and its paycheck. You wouldn't start following another leader just because he took the title from the last one (though neither would Reborn, but the hitman wouldn't harm the rest of the famiglia due to the leader change).

You tilt your head, keeping your gazed trained on the raven. "I am a bit curious about some of this little matter. I wonder if you'll humor me a bit and answer a few of my inquiries?..."

The younger male just continued to scowl, but he didn't say no either, so you took that as a cue to continue.

"If I may…Why are you so hell bent on this position? You already hold the reigns to the Varia and can strike plenty of fear as you are. So why do you need more?"

"When that old man took me in and said I was his son, I was given the chance at the throne of the most powerful famiglia in the world. But it was all just lies! I don't actually have a blood bond to that bastard!" Xanxus yelled.

"Is that so…" You hummed a bit, as if in thought. "My half-hearted apology if you expect some other reaction than the one I'm about to give. But you see, I don't see any reason to care. So _what_ if you can't be Vongola Decimo. It seems to me that you already have just about everything else you could ever want. Personally, I would be rather thrilled to find out that I didn't have such a title lingering over my shoulders any longer, and you can't say that I would understand, because I do. More than _you_ could ever imagine. I would have been so much…happier, if my father would have just died by someone else's hands, instead of seeking me out and forcing that blasted title and curse onto me."

You sneer at the thought. It was so irritating, disgusting that he had won in the end. "There is also the little tidbit that if those other three hadn't died, you still wouldn't have a chance at the…throne, if that's what you must call it. And frankly speaking, you have it rather good here. I mean, I had a biological bond to my parents, yet I had an absolutely miserable childhood. I much prefer my guardian turned teacher. He was a much better parental figure and we didn't have any deeper relation. So I find your petty little fight quite selfish of you."

Xanxus's scowl deepens and he grits his teeth.

"I'll tell you something right now, brat. If you somehow manage to win this war, many others and I will be cutting all ties to Vongola. We may even cut all ties to the Vongola's allies as well." You stare down the boy, letting him know through your eyes how serious his situation was. "One reason is because of what I stated before. Another reason, personally, is that I will not serve someone so self-centered. And the last reason we would leave, is because we don't like serving anyone so much weaker than us." Your lips twitch up in a haughty smirk for a second, observing the younger male's increasing anger calmly. "Did you honestly think you could win against the old man? Surely, you must have realized that there was a reason Vongola has continued to stand at the top, even with such an old geezer leading the famiglia."

You smirk and casually walk up to the boy, grabbing his arm and placing his hand around your other wrist (your non-dominant hand of course, you were ambidextrous, but you still used one hand over the other). "If you don't believe me, then why don't we test out your little theory? All you have to do is overpower my flame. If you can do that, then I'll move aside and allow you to continue your attack on Nono. Agreed?"

Xanxus's scowl turned into a frown of confusion, though he masked it behind anger very well. However, he nodded and lit his flame of wrath without any other warning.

You smirked. Good, he had gotten better. You were going to have to put him through tort- training later if he hadn't by the time he pulled this sort of stunt.

You light your own flames as well. Time to show this upstart how weak his will truly was.

* * *

You gaze up at the small two story Japanese home with the closest thing to fondness you could ever reach. You never thought that a small suburban home could ever look so welcoming to someone like you. An assassin doesn't like to stay in one place for too long, especially one so out in the open and free for any and all attacks. But you had actually and genuinely…missed this small home. Seven months was a long time to be away. You wonder how much, if at all, Tsunayoshi has grown.

You don't even bother knocking on the door, just entering with the key Nana had copied for you (not that you really needed it seeing as you could easily pick the lock without causing any damage, but the sentiment was nice you suppose). The first thing you notice is that, despite the deceiving open and airy aura surrounding the outside of the house, the inside was filled with a darker and more potent strain of auras. It was so thick that even others would be able to perceive it, though they would only think that the house felt a bit stuffy. You, on the other hand, knew exactly what was the cause.

Hate.

Hate is like a poison and a chronic disease rolled into one. It seeps into the heart and hides in the shadows, festering and growing stronger when the victim is least aware of it. Sometimes it takes years for it to develop and ripen into something threatening, other times all it needs is the right incident for it to take root and evolve into something more disastrous. It feeds of the darkness born from everyday occurrences and feasts off of the reason it had taken root, should that be reoccurring reminder. It even has the power to infect crowds of people and pull them into the shadows of despair and overbearing anger. And, slowly, it will tear the victim(s) apart, like acid to paper. It dissolves a person into a shadow of who they were or could have been before finally pushing them to the brink of self destruction, usually ending the victim as well as the reason for their hate, hate will even take a few extra innocent victims just for the hell of it. Because hate is evil and it rots even the ripest apple to the core.

You sigh silently. This is just another of the many reasons why emotions were dangerous and should be handled more carefully.

Now the more important question was: who was this level of hate stemming from?

Reborn doesn't take that emotion lightly, nor does he usually allow it to affect him. His list of people that he actually and truly hated consisted of Checkerface a.k.a. the man in the iron hat. So unless the person responsible for the Arcobaleno curse ran through this house a few seconds ago, then it couldn't possibly be Reborn who was brooding so darkly.

Nor could it be Giotto because…well, let's face it. That kid was like any other teenage brat. He was arrogant, idiotic, self-righteous, imbecilic, whiney, foolish, rash, and the list goes on. Teenagers like that weren't capable of feeling this deep of any emotion. They are as shallow as a side less cookie sheet.

Nana was definitely out. No ifs, ands, or buts. Nana was Nana. And Nana doesn't hate…_ever_.

If you think any further about Iemitsu, you were going to have to shoot someone, so you're not even going to consider him.

However, this left only Tsunayoshi.

You narrow your eyes. You had been gone for far too long after all.

* * *

**Reviews are lovely~!**


	23. Target 23

**Did I die? Not completely. I feel like it though. I've worked overtime six days a week for over a month now, and now it's the holiday season which means the little demons- I mean cousins, shall be coming by for a visit soon...Oh my poor back.**

**I want to say a big THANK YOU to all my reviewers. When I really just wanted to go die in a hole somewhere after work, reading your reviews helped me type a little bit everyday. I don't think motivation would have been there otherwise. So blacklightningwolf, Secret29, TheKawaiiStar21, XSkyeStarlX, SphereShadow, alexag98, anna the viking XD, kimichee, Kildosad, KagamineRin81, Akatsuki's Neko Stalker, hydro-serpent58 (Kari), I Know I'm A Dreamer, sleepdeprived91, akira45, and Queen of Vampires: THANK YOU SO DAMN MUCH!**

**I hope you enjoy this chapter!**

* * *

Target 23

"Nee-chan! You're finally back!"

Next thing you know, you were nearly plowed over by a ball of brown fluff to the gut. However, you aren't the second strongest assassin out there for nothing, so you remain standing and don't even flinch when the child grabs hold of your injured hand. Dying will flames, especially the flames of wrath, healed a lot slower than normal burns and were a pain to heal with sun flames. You had to let them heal naturally for the most part. On the other hand, it was completely your choice to allow the brat to injure you to such a degree. He learned a lot better through sacrifice, since he doesn't seem to understand why someone would ever risk themselves for someone else. It's easy to manipulate people like that but hey, whatever got the job done.

"Hello otō-kun," you greet with a ruffle of the boy's hair.

Heh, that was strange. Was it you, or did the kid shrink a little while you were gone?

You shake your head. More importantly than that, you were right. The dark aura was stemming from the little boy. It was so strong, it was a wonder that no one else seemed to have noticed it yet. You sigh through your nose silently. For every step you managed to take forward with the boy, he always fell at least ten steps back when you left. To make things worse, you had been gone for over half a year.

"It seems you brought back a souvenir."

Your lip quirks up in a wry smile for a second as you pull away your bandaged hand to gaze at it properly. "Ah, well, that was bound to happen when dealing with a bunch of brats in need of anger management courses."

Reborn raised an eyebrow and narrowed his eyes a little.

You sigh a little. "Don't bother, it'll heal. Besides, I more than returned the favor."

The hitman studies you a bit longer before shrugging away from the wall and stepping closer. You note that the brunet doesn't turn around, in fact, his grip tightened.

How curious.

The raven stopped in front of you. "You're taller."

An eyebrow quirks up for a second. So it the kid didn't shrink, _you_ just grew a few inches. No wonder he was burying his face into your stomach rather than your shoulder. "I suppose Verde was correct then. Although, it doesn't seem like you changed as much. If this continues, I'll appear older than you in no time."

You could tell that the hitman nearly rolled his eyes, but dismissed your response. "So what mission did you take on after you resolved everything? You were gone for much longer than what was necessary for that one incident."

"I used the excuse that I had a potential mission from Nono, so I was expected to follow through. What I did doesn't concern you though," you brush the assassin's prying questions away, not at all bothered by his probing or the irritated mix to his aura. He should remember that you didn't follow his orders. "Since neither Nana nor Giotto is around, I'm going to go take a walk. Be a dear and join me, would you Tsunayoshi?"

"Un!" The brunet agrees easily and immediately pulls on his shoes.

You nod to the hitman before grabbing the small child's hand and pulling him outside. You were tempted to take Skull's age from him again so that you can return to your complete original form, rather than that of a child. Sure you were as tall as you were when you first met the Sawada family, but an adult form held more authority. You suppose you'll have to make do though. You weren't 'Reborn' enough to pull something that cruel on the stuntman.

Neither of you speak as you walk around town, though Tsuna does skip and hum light-heartedly besides you. Finally, you pull the other inside of a bakery and seat yourselves in a secluded corner. You patiently wait for a waitress to come take your orders before leveling a steady gaze on the boy, one that let him know that you wanted answers and wasn't going to take anything less than the whole truth.

"Speak child. What has made you so…upset?"

Tsunayoshi squirmed under your gaze, trying not to look as upset as he felt. "…That man came back again…"

Damn it Iemitsu. It takes a lot of self-control not to twitch, punch, or let out a cloud of dark aura. That man always had a way of ruining all of your work. You take a silent deep breath to calm down. "And what did that idiota do this time?"

"He came back for a week and told more lies to mama and me. I don't like lies. They feel hot and itchy in my stomach." The child scowled.

This made you blink in surprise. You hadn't thought Tsuna was capable of such an expression. Iemitsu was going to suffer for several months for this.

"Then he left suddenly and made mama cry. He missed their anniversary this year too."

Forget a few months, you'd make sure he was in complete agony for an entire year, maybe even longer.

"Mama kept smiling, but I heard her cry every night."

Forget pain, let's just off the bastard and be done with it.

"Gio-nii and Reborn won't let me do anything anymore either."

"Oh?" You raise an eyebrow again. "And why is that."

"They say there is danger."

Odd…Since when has that ever stopped Reborn before.

"Reborn says he has to train Gio-nii more now." The child's face falls even further. How cruel, to be so possessive of a child, but to be so neglectful at the same time.

"And what of your training with Fong?"

"We haven't done much because Reborn says we have to train in the back yard and he watches."

Damn it all Reborn! There's a reason you asked for Fong's help, now it was ruined!

The small child placed his crossed arms on the table and rested his chin on top of them. "This is actually the first time since you left that I could go out for fun."

That strange clenching feeling Luce called sadness was back. If you knew that this was what your extended trip was going to result in, you would have figured out how to either come back sooner or take the child with you.

You reach across the table and rest a hand on the fluffy make of hair. "I'm _so_ sorry little one. _So_ sorry."

The child looked up with a smile. "It's okay nee-chan. You're back and that makes me really happy."

It wasn't fair. Why was this happening to this child? He didn't deserve such a fate.

"Well look who we have here. Isn't this cake shop a little girlie, Dame-Tsuna?"

Just great. More annoyances, just what you needed.

"Well hey there sweet cheeks!" An arm slung around your shoulder.

Apparently _someone_ wanted to die.

"If I were you, I would get lost," you say calmly, picking the sleeve and pulling off the limb. You don't even spare a glance for the moronic fool and his little swine of a brother. "I have no time, nor patience, for incompetent fools."

The older fool laughs. "You hear that dame-brat, you better get going."

You sigh and in a flash, the older boy is pinned to the table with a normal table knife to his neck. "Do _not_ make me repeat myself. Leave now, or you'll be leaving in pieces."

"A-And what exactly do you think you could do with just a table knife." The boy tried to sound confident, but his stutter gave him away.

You smirk. "You'd be surprised how easily it is to kill someone with something as normal as a table knife. You just need to know the right techniques."

"Let go of my big brother," the younger brat shouted, "or I'll…I'll…"

Just as his eyes drifted toward your youngest charge, you kick the little pig, sending him right out the recently opened door. You level a steady glare at the older annoyance before releasing him and allowing him to run away.

You sigh and place a couple of bills on the table. "Let's go little one. The service here is slow and I seem to have lost my appetite."

Tsunayoshi nods one and hops off his seat, scurrying for the door. You cast one last glance around the shop before you leave, memorizing all the faces of the people who had ignored your situation. They would be punished for their incompetence later. You take the child out to ice cream and anywhere else, he desires for the rest of the day instead. You even promise to take him the amusement park sometime to make up for the café disaster.

However, no matter how much you would like to hold off on taking the child home, you cannot procrastinate forever. Eventually the day was going to end and the setting sun only furthered that argument. Soon the two of you find yourselves standing in front of the front door. You sigh a little and push the only barrier between you and Tsuna's grief out of the way.

Because lady luck just likes to mess with you, Giotto had just reached the bottom of the stair well just when the door swung open. Damn that woman, you were going to hunt her down and gut her for this.

The blond brightens. "Hey JJ! I didn't know you were back, no wonder Reborn let Tsuna go out today."

You stare at the boy for a bit then sigh.

Giotto raised an eyebrow. "Am I that tiresome that I don't even get a hello."

Arrogant teenage brat. "Ah, I did forget didn't I?" You kneel down and hug the younger child. "Hello Tsuna, I'm back."

The brunette giggles, but hugs you back.

"Ara, is that JJ-chan I hear?" Nana come out of the other room holding her customary ladle. "Ah! It is! Welcome back dear!"

You bow slightly. "It's good to see you again Nana."

The older brunette pouts. "Call me mama!"

Still at that, huh?

The woman smiles again. "Well dinner is almost ready, so why don't you two freshen up a little then come down to eat?"

You smile a little at that, you really like Nana's food, it was one of the few things in this world that you would come back for. "That sounds great. Thank you Nana."

You nudge Tsunayoshi up the stairs before you, both to get him away from any unwanted attention and to make sure you were behind him in case he fell. You then throw your things into the closet carelessly and sit with the young boy on your bed while you waited to be called back down.

Dinner was deceivingly cheery, but the whole time you were tensed, sensing a fight about to break out yet just falling short of the temperament needed. To make things more annoying, the stupid blond brat kept glancing at you during the entirety of the meal. If he didn't knock off these annoying actions, he would wake up one morning to find his eyes missing and sold somewhere in the black market for a nice profit.

Men really shouldn't underestimate how sadistic females can truly become.

"Hey, I've been meaning to ask," the blond speaks up suddenly. "What does JJ stand for exactly."

You blink. Once, twice, and a third time before turning toward the other assassin. "Was it from that joint job in Berlin, or was it the Hong Kong expedition?"

Reborn raised an eyebrow. "I thought it was those chain jobs you took on in America."

You tilt your head slightly in though, then nodded. "I had three others there, so I tend to forget. It wasn't one of my most memorable jobs."

"And yet," Reborn countered, "you can remember every name of the people involved as well as their families and close acquaintances."

"Like you're any different," you remind the other. The thing with assassins of Reborn and your level, was that you had a certain code of conduct that you followed. Some of the rules varied with each person, but most of the time they varied around the same areas. One of your rules was to always remember. Everything in your job came with a heavy price, so you better damn well remember all the important details included. Your own aliases didn't matter that much, but profiles did.

"Wait," Giotto interjected, "so JJ isn't your name, or a nickname like G's?"

You raised an eyebrow to that. "You didn't think an assassin would give you their real name, now did you?"

The light blush gave the oldest Sawada child away. You sigh through your nose and shake your head a little. Pathetic.

"So what's your real name?" The blond asked hurriedly.

"As I've told countless others for over a decade now, I have no name." You say this uncaringly while examining your nails. It was growing rather tedious to repeat this now. People should just take the hint and move on already. But, you doubted this would happen anytime soon.

"Why not?" Giotto questioned.

Point proven.

"Because I don't need, care, nor want one. Too tedious." A yawn follows this explanation. You were bored of this conversation before it even started.

Meanwhile, the blond idiot gaped at you, while trying to figure out why a person would do such a thing.

You smirked. "Reborn's reaction, while less exaggerated, was no less as amusing as yours."

Said hitman scowled a little, but then broke out into a smirk. "Your reaction to my chosen name wasn't bad either though."

You shrug. "For such a hardass, you had the corniest reasons for choosing 'Reborn' as a name."

"Hmph, at least I _had_ a reason. For the longest time you were just running away."

You sigh a little and lean into your palm. "I can't argue with that." You blink when you feel a tug around your waist and look down to see Tsuna snuggling closer. "What is it little one?"

"I'm glad you're alright now nee-chan."

Aaah, you see now. That intuition was uncanny, even managing to surprise you a little sometimes. You gently rub the small one's head. You didn't need to answer verbally. Tsuna could read your actions quite easily sometimes.

* * *

Later that night, you wake and look down in surprise. You weren't shocked to see that Tsunayoshi had crawled in with you, but you were a bit stunned to see the boy crying in his sleep. For the first time in your life, you froze up.

What were you supposed to do in this sort of situation? Was there something in particular you were required to act upon, or a handbook to guide you through this? You knew that you weren't supposed to wake up a sleepwalker, but what about a sleep crier?

You hesitantly wrap your arms around the child, shushing him, and rubbing what you hoped were soothing circles on his back. You remembered seeing a character do this in one of the movies Nana forced you to watch with her on a 'girl's day out' (that piece of your poor decrepit soul may never return, it was so traumatized).

You were relieved to see the tears stop as the boy curled into you more. This mothering/taking-care-of-children thing was tough. You were going to have to remember to treat Nana out to a spa day or something.

But when your relief faded, irritation starting creeping back in. You really wanted to smash your head into a nice solid wall a few times. This was all Reborn and Giotto's fault. Those two needed to get a life and move on. You had never failed a mission before, and dammit you weren't starting now. If you couldn't get those two to back off, then you were going to teach Tsuna how to stand up for himself and prove that he can stand on his own. After all…

You glance down at your arm.

The scar was complete now. It looked exactly like how you saw it in your vision. And if you weren't able to change whatever would happen, then Tsuna would be left to live a life of misery before he finally cracked from all the pressure.

You couldn't- no, wouldn't fail. You would show the little one just how important and strong he was on his own.

* * *

**I'm debating whether or not to make a winter holiday special. What do all of you think?**

**Reviews are lovely~!**


	24. Target 24

**I'll update my other stories soon, I'm just trying to smooth out a few kinks with them.**

**Thank you, thank you, THANK YOU: Kildosad, XSkryeStarlX, Queen of Vampires, skidney, xxOMGgalxx, KagamineRin81, anna the viking XD, akira45, Secret29, alexag98, Zehava, Akatsuki's Neko Stalker, xxtoushriou, Paigecat, Guest, April Marciano, LadyDream3512, Autore Raita, and ChrimsonSkyTamer for reviewing one or both of chapter 23 and the Christmas special! I'm glad that so many of you enjoyed it, as it was a lot of fun to write!**

**I hope you enjoy this extra-long chapter!**

* * *

Target 24

"No," you reply in a bored tone, turning the page of your book lazily. You don't react to the glare sent your direction. It didn't matter how many times Reborn ordered you to, you weren't going to do it.

"You're perfectly capable, so you're taking a shift tomorrow."

"No, I don't think I will," you say in a lethargic whimsical manner, turning the next page.

"And why not?" Reborn ground out. This was quite amusing, really. If you kept this up, pretty soon other people will be able to tell how pissed off the hitman was.

You turn another page, keeping your gaze on the words printed in black ink, therefore not bothering to grace the others with your gaze. "I don't teach brats with no potential. And I definitely don't teach annoying brats. Brats who are annoying bother me and make my day irritating, so I shan't."

Flip.

You shift the slightest bit to your side as to avoid the bullet aimed for your poor book.

"Please JJ?" The blond brat speaks up. "Most of us are willing to let your tutor us for a day."

"Even if that was so, I still am not obliged to spend my day with brats I have not chosen as a student. Please take a number and come back if it should ever be called." Flip.

"You teach Tsunayoshi, but you won't tutor us for even a day?" The red-headed brat scoffed.

"Mmm," you hummed. "Yes, well, that's because I see potential there. And as I said before, I only teach those who have potential and who don't annoy me. All of you are bothersome, so I don't feel like assisting in any manner." Flip.

"Wait, so who's _not_ a brat in your books?" The seaweed-haired brat jumps in.

You pause mid flip to think about that question a bit before continuing your reading and responding. "There is the annoying anger-management brat; the loudmouth shark brat; the in-need-of-a-good-kick puppy brat; weirdo flamboyant brat; irritating ushishi royal-pain-in-my-ass brat; klutzy horse brat; Tsunayoshi; Nana; the moronic-irritating-stupid-imbicilic-nerve-grinding-needs-to-be-killed-already blond bastard that shall not be named; idiot blond brat; temperamental crimson brat; temperamental-loudmouth silver brat; constant PMS-ing poison brat; the scarlet earth brat; the ahaha-ing flute brat; the religious boxer brat; seaweed brat; Nufufu-ing melon brat; Kufufu-ing pineapple brat; Nagi; irritable handcuff-obsessed beige brat; arrogant tonfa raven brat; semi idiot Reborn; and then a few others I don't feel like making the effort to name."

Hm. You were almost done with this book now. You were going to have to ask Fong for another one.

"So basically, you consider just about everyone you ever met and annoyance or brat," G deadpanned.

"So what would make us not brats?" Giotto asked.

"Only brats need someone else to answer that." Sad, you finished your book. Now you had to look up. You snap the covers together with a sigh and slide down off your comfortable position on the roof. You hold onto a corner of the spine of the book and tap the narrow strip of binding against your shoulder, settling your gaze on the seven boys and finally Reborn. "If I actually took the time to teach them, they would break. All of them are too fragile to learn about our side of life nor can they stand up to a simple punch from one of us. Therefore, it is pointless for me to do anything at this time."

Reborn cocked an eyebrow. "The point of teaching is to help them to get to that point."

"For most positions, yes. But I am an assassin and I choose to start teaching those who at the beginning of standing up to me and have the makings to become stronger. These boys," you use your book to point at the seven high schoolers, "have already lost my interest. I wouldn't even have to lift a finger to bring all of them to their knees in a couple of minutes."

"Don't you think it would benefit you to make sure the Vongola Decimo is able to reach a decent strength?" The raven pointed out, ignoring the glares and stances a couple of his idiot student's friends were taking.

The blond groaned and muttered something along the lines of not wanting to be the next boss, but didn't speak up more than that.

"It would be, if I had ties with the Vongola. But as you remember, I am a freelance and wouldn't lose a wink of sleep ignoring all of them. Their future holds no worth to mine." You take a step to move away, intending to look for your Chinese friend as to borrow another book.

However, Giotto steps forward and in front of you, a determined gleam in his eyes. "Then let us prove to you that we're capable of whatever you dish out, that we _can _learn from you."

"No. You can't," your tone is as hard as the near glare you send the group. Several of them flinched and those that didn't stiffened.

How ignorant. _None_ of them knew what came with the world they were going into. They lived a pampered sheltered life with minimal amounts of stress. And it was _irritating_ how foolish they actually were.

You turn toward Reborn. "You _really_ want me to teach them something? Then they'll learn something they'll _never_ forget, because the only knowledge I have to offer brats is a reality check. They want to protect? Please!" You scoff, openly mocking them. "Protection comes with a price, that's why we have our own rules." You narrow your eyes dangerously. "You _still_ want me to tutor them?"

Reborn's face is blank of emotions. "It's their choice."

You gaze into the hitman's eyes looking for anything that could imply that you could change his stubborn mind, but find nothing. Finally, you turn back to the teens and await their decision.

"We want to train under you, even if just for a little bit." Such determination would be admirable, had they known what they were getting themselves into.

You're tempted to smirk, but remain detached instead. "Fine. You're lucky since we've got a few incoming fools for us to use." You sigh through your nose and glance down at your watch. You had another half of an hour to kill anyways, so you might as well make them shut up once and for all. "Alright then, follow me."

You lead the group out into the woods until you found a nicely sized clearing for what you had planned.

"Why did you lead us all the way out here?" Lampo questioned.

"So as to not kill any civilians by accident. I'd rather not have to deal with the paperwork," you inform the group. You bend down to examine the flexibility and stability of the ground, not bothering to observe the group once more.

Alaude and Daemon smirked, getting into battle ready stances, the rest following their example.

"Hold your horses boys. You want to be tested, then tested you shall be, but by _my_ rules."

You nod to yourself, sure that the area should hold up for what you had in mind. You grabbed a stick and carved a decently large circle around a conveniently placed stump, then broke the circle into seven equally spaced sections, each one big enough to fit a fallen man. You hop onto the stump, seating cross-legged with your hands on your knees, and stare out at the boys.

"All you have to do is remain standing throughout my…well, let's call it my attack. To be fair, I'll have you each standing the same length away from me. If you fall, I shall cease increasing the strength of my attack and you shall just be pinned until all of you have fallen. I shall be increasing the strength of my attack one level at a time. Should at least one of the _seven_ of you," you eye Reborn knowingly, "remain standing by level…oh, let's say 10. Then I shall go ahead and spend my day tomorrow or whenever tutoring you. Agreed?"

Giotto shared a look with his friends before turning back to you with a nod.

Arrogant brats.

"Ready?"

As if they ever could be, but you'll start off at a nice easy pace to throw them off. Yeah, you were just nice like that. Raise their confidence before crushing them, weren't you the sweetest little assassin known to man?

You smirk. "Level one."

You used your aura to apply pressure to the surrounding area. You weren't just able to read aura's, but use your own in different ways as well. From observation, you knew that light pressure would just make the air feel heavy and as you increased pressure, it would eventually feel like gravity was increasing until finally the pressure was too much and the body…popped.

You watch them expressionlessly, noting the overconfidence in their eyes. "Level two."

The boys gasp and Lampo falls to his hands and knees. This was unsurprising. Each level was obviously stronger than the last, and for boys who were still new to the whole 'fighting with your dying will' thing, there was no way that they would be able to handle a non-physical type attack. All experts could fight with their aura, but most just thought it was intimidation, appearance, reputation, and so on. Reborn had thought so too until you taught him better.

"Level three."

Lampo fell to his stomach and Asari stumbled a bit.

"Four."

Knuckles and Asari took a knee.

"Five."

Lightning, Sun, and Rain out. Storm on knee, Sky only slightly better.

"Six."

Sky and storm Storm out as well. Mist and Cloud remain.

"Seven."

Sweat on brow apparent. Next level will finish them off.

"Eight."

Seven down for the count.

You study the boys, not alleviating the pressure one bit. "I congratulate you for making it to level eight, but that's nowhere near enough. If I had continued raising the levels for all of you then three of you would have died. And to make things worse, this attack barely brushes the strength that's used on most of my victims and even that is not all I have to fight with."

"And what does this prove exactly," G grunted.

"That you don't have much room to grow." You study the boys, seeing the lack of understanding in their aura's and expressions. "Should you have been able to make progress, then you would have been able to adapt. Even if you fell to one knee, you would have been able to get back up. All of you _can_ grow more, but not as much as whomever I would choose to teach."

"Nee-chan! Where are you?" Even before the obvious speaker had finished, the little one emerged from the bushes.

"Wait! Tsu-kun!" Giotto called out in panic.

But the brunet smiled and ran over to hug you. "Nee-chan, mama and I finished shopping so can we go to the park?"

You quirk an eyebrow. "Did you finish your homework?"

"Un!"

You catch Reborn narrowing his eyes and glance over with a raised eyebrow. "Just spit it out already."

"How far has he gone?"

"Last week he made it all the way up to 23." You don't bother with waiting for a reply, instead turning back to the small child. "I'll be back in a few minutes. Can you wait for me back at the house?"

"Un!" Tsunayoshi took off without another word.

Reborn watched the child leave, not even turning around once the other was long out of sight. "So that's why you decided to tutor him." He turned around finally and sent you a hard look. "Don't go too far. He is not to enter our world."

"He's already in it," you point out. "All of them were pulled in thanks to that idiota. I'm just making sure he can defend himself should anything hostile arrive." You turn back toward the rest of the group and alleviate your aura so that they could return to an upright position. "Now for part two of why I won't tutor you. Ieyatsu-"

"Giotto," the blond cut in.

You ignored him though. "Ieyatsu, do you know what my job entails?"

The sky guardian grimaced. "You're an assassin, so you're paid to murder people."

"Wrong. I'm paid to kill people," you correct. "Do you understand what the difference is?"

"The difference between assassination and murder is the methodology used," Reborn explained when his student staying in a confused silence. "We pick our jobs, using a set of rules we created for ourselves."

"Meaning?" The red-headed brat asked.

"Neither Reborn or I will take jobs where a family, _family_ not famiglia, is involved, you correct quickly. "We don't kill kids and we don't target good people. That is why one of my rules is to remember the names of every target and their associates. When I pull the trigger, I know very well that I am taking that person away from a spouse and/or children. I fully recognize the burden of who I'm taking that person away from. I also know whether they were abusing their family or friends, or if they had been abusing other people. There's a price to taking out a life, so you better damn well know if it was really worth it."

"The practice in which we kill them is the other difference," Reborn picked up. "For assassination, we kill with the least amount of damage."

"Double tap is understandable, like if you shoot someone in the heart, but then shoot them in the head to ensure that they are dead," you added.

Reborn nodded. "But other than that we don't cause any other damage to the body. Murder usually entails more than what's necessary."

"There's precision in assassination. We don't do more than what's absolutely necessary. Murder is killing under emotional purposes. Get it now?" You directed toward the blond once more, who nodded hesitantly. You pulled out your pistol and clicked off the safety. "Good. Now for the last reason I won't tutor you. I'll give all of you a preview as to why I ended up with that blasted title."

A shot fired through the air and sliced right through you.

"JJ!" Giotto shouted out in alarm, only to gape when your form evaporated.

It was just an illusion.

Idiots.

You smirk a little. Looked like you had a little time to play.

Even though you really didn't particularly like being called the Mockingbird, you knew that it was for good reason. You were able to mimic the voices of others, and on top of that, you could throw your voice. You could literally make it sound like another person was on the other side of the field, which is what you were doing now. You called out fake orders in the voice of their team leader, confusing the group while taking them out from behind. There was only six in the first string, so you finished up quickly before dropping down next to Reborn.

"The next group is larger, would you like to join in?" You asked innocently, like it was a child's game.

The hitman smirked. "How many?"

You hummed a bit as you counted the auras approaching. You frowned slightly. Something was wrong, but you weren't sure what. "I'm not entirely sure. Something seems a bit off with the majority of the people approaching, but I've never seen this before so I can't say what it is."

Suddenly a high pitch shriek, like that of a broken microphone, filled your head and forced you to a knee.

Something was horribly wrong.

* * *

**Meh, cliffhangers. Sorry...**

**Reviews are lovely~!**


	25. Target 25

**So it seems zombie plot bunny is still alive. It just kicked the other plot bunnies from two other story departments out and took over as the demon bunny dictator. This is my explanation for the sudden surge of chapters. It's a good thing my classes are out for winter holiday or I'd be screwed.**

**Big THANKS to: akira45, alexag98, skidney, xxtoushirou, xxOMGgalxx, Akatsuki's Neko Stalker, Namikaze Hatake, anna the viking XD, Kildosad, and SphereShadow for reviewing! It means a lot and inspires me to keep typing up a storm!**

**WARNING: This story was rated T for a reason. It's not horrible, but there is violence!**

**Hope you enjoy!**

* * *

Target 25

Screeching. It was a like a stadium full of broken microphones were filling your head. It was so loud, you couldn't think. What the hell was this?

Was that a hand on your shoulder?

Oh, who cares. Where was that shrieking coming from?

You pulled out your gun and cracked open and eye, trying to aim.

Brat, brat, idiot, brat, enemy, brat.

Rewind.

There!

BANG!

You sighed in relief when the noise cut off.

Damn, that was annoying.

You walked over to the body, only to sneer in disgust. "Repulsive."

"Baka-Giotto, you and your friends stay where you are." Reborn narrowed his eyes. "I don't like the looks of it. Human experimentation. There's only one famiglia I know that would openly show their work."

It seemed that one live human was controlling six bodies. That would explain the reaction you had. Their auras were forcibly ripped out and replaced. It was even more inhuman that you thought possible.

You clicked your tongue and looked away. "Dammit. I knew I should have finished up before coming back."

"What do you mean?" The hitman demanded.

"My mission was to track down the different locations of the Estraneo famiglia and wipe them out. I've taken down everything in Europe and Northern Asia, so Nono said to take a break. They didn't have any hideouts in Japan. They must be getting desperate for more people to experiment on and sent out collectors. Dammit." You blink when you notice something and swivel around. "Shoot!"

You only made one step to run after the little one when the rest of the collectors caught up with the first one, thankfully none of them were attached to an reanimated body. You hiss and light up your mist flame, though it dissipated a second later. Giotto and a few of his friends cried out in alarm, thinking something was wrong, but you ignored them. You dodge as the enemy takes fire.

In a flash, you are behind the furthest guy and shove his head into the group, crushing his skull. You needed whoever you took prisoner to talk right away, so you were going with the fear tactic by showing superior strength and skill. Reborn takes out three more guys, while you snap the necks of a couple others. Finally there are only three left. Reborn incapacitates two while you kick the other onto his back, placing your foot over the man's most sensitive part and pointing a gun at his head.

"You really want to keep this up?" You had to remain calm. Emotions would only get in the way, so you made sure your tone was bored yet taunting. The man dropped his weapons, to which you smirked. "I didn't think so. Now you're going to tell me where you've taken all those little kiddies."

"I-I don't know," the man stuttered.

"Not the answer I'm looking for." You shoot without hesitation and grab one of the guys Reborn was guarding, holding him up by his collar. "You want to give it a go?"

"W-we just c-collect any kids we see! That's what they paid us to do!"

"And where do you take them? There is always a drop off point," you prompted.

"Down to the harbor!"

You narrow your eyes dangerously to show you were displeased. "Japan is an _island_ nation, so there is a lot of that one."

"I-I don't know!" The man ground out, trying to force out a bit of bravado. "Th-they didn't tell us that Reborn and his bitch was here!"

You don't even blink when a bit of the guy's blood splatters your face from Reborn's bullet, merely tossing the body aside and moving on to the final man.

"I won't say anything!" The last man snarled.

"Is that so?" You challenge. You hold a hand over the guy's face. "Then let's try this instead. Why don't we make a lesson out of this as well? You know what dying will flames are, right brat?"

"Y-yeah…" Giotto managed. You didn't need to turn around to know that the teenagers behind you were feeling sick.

"Well, let me give you a little fun fact. Most illusionists, the ones with the ability to possess others at any rate, must create a physical wound on their victim. Daemon would be an example with his scythe. I however have no need. Do you know why?" You glance out the corner of your eye to see most of the group shaking their heads. "It's because I can use my mist flames like spores. By breaking them up into particles too small for the human eye to see, my flame is then absorbed into the body on a cellular level. I can even control them without taking over their mind, in which case they would remember everything. This is a useful ability for me to have, because it also makes gather information a cinch."

You let the boys, and more importantly your victim, process that information a bit before returning your full attention to your last hostage. "Do you know what this means for you? It means that for every ounce of pain my student and the other children you have kidnapped, your son feels ten times over. I'll even grace him with the knowledge that it was all _your_ fault that the rest of his life is filled with agony. How does that sound? Little Walsh will appreciate that now, won't he? I'm sure Marianna will be quite pleased as well. I'm sure they would like to know that no matter how' loving' you are at home, you have no problem sell the children of countless others to people who mutilate them for the sake of experimentation."

"N-no! Don't! They-they're…They're down at the harbor nearest to this small town!" The man spluttered before you could continue any further. "I don't know where they're going, but they're supposed to stick around at least 'til midafternoon."

You take off immediately, leaving Reborn to take care of the rest.

* * *

"_Don't worry," Tsuna whispered to his cellmates. "Nee-chan will save us! I know she will!"_

"_Y-You sure?" Little Nagi asked hopefully._

"_Un!" The brunet nodded in confidence._

_They all quivered in fear when the door clanged open and keys were inserted into the lock of their cell. A body was dumped in while the man glanced around the small cage. "M-96 and K-9 will be coming with me."_

"_No!" Tsunayoshi shouted, standing in front of Nagi when the man made a move for her. He used the skills he was taught, but then other, more burley men, came in as well. The brunet was pushed aside roughly and the screaming girl was pulled out along with the blond boy that had shared a cell with them. He shouted for their return, but went unanswered. Finally, he remembered the other child and went over to help. "Hey are you okay?"_

_When there was no answer he pressed a couple of fingers to the vein on the boy's neck like nee-chan had taught him. He gasped and backed away._

_There was no pulse._

* * *

Gone.

They were all gone. Not a trace to be found.

You rubbed your face wearily and forced yourself to calm down. If anyone could find all those kids, you could. You may not have ESP, clairvoyance, or any of that jazz. But you could track some of the most elusive people in the world. It was just a few kids, so this should be a snap.

However, the annoying, panic-induced set of brothers shouting their heads off behind you _weren't_ helping matters.

"Would all of you _shut __up_," you hiss dangerously, glaring at the whole group.

Giotto, Asari, Knuckles, Daemon, and even G were shouting uselessly about their missing siblings. They were just lucky that you had snapped at them before Alaude could reach his boiling point.

You whipped out your phone and started making calls, heading along the coast to search for aura trails in peace. There was also the matter that you didn't want to show them your other tricks. Not even Reborn knew everything.

You grimace in pain as you kept searching. This technique exhausted a great deal of flames, and you had already used a considerable amount already. But when you finally picked something up an hour later, it was worth it. You cough and spat out blood from overuse, but wipe away the evidence and head back to let Reborn know you were heading off.

The moment he spotted you, he tucked away his phone. "Where?"

"West. They're moving fast. Who slipped up?" You ask in return, knowing that Reborn had been investigating who had taken over your mission.

"One of the team leaders didn't clean up properly. They're taking care of it now."

You nod. "Does anyone besides Nono know about who they took?"

"No. He asked that we move in discretion. If that idiota finds out, he'll wrack up a storm."

"Then I'll go with Fong. If you and the others leave, it'll cause suspicion."

The hitman's hand curled into a fist, but he nodded tightly. "You better not mess up."

"You too," you reply in a clipped tone.

You take off right away, phone by your ear. Fong meets you by the docks and you two depart, following the trail. The martial artist comments about your health, but you wave him off. You can rest later. The longer you took, the longer Tsuna could be in pain.

* * *

_There was a gasp of air and the supposedly dead boy jolted up._

"_Mukuro! You're alive!" Tsuna headed over right away and placed a hand over the other's shoulder._

_However, her went ignored when the older boy looked around frantically. "Nagi! Where's Nagi!"_

"_I-I don't know," the brunet sniffled. "I tried to stop them, but they took her away."_

_Rage and fear filled Mukuro's eyes, but he refused to turn on the younger boy. He opened his mouth, about to try to comfort the sobbing boy, but was cut off when the door was opened again._

"_SX-27 and M-69."_

_Tsuna and Mukuro fought, but we pulled away and separated. The next hour all Tsuna felt was pain. Even when he was dumped back into the dingy cell, his body continued to seethe in agony and tears poured down his face._

_The boy curled himself into a tight ball, his voice hoarse from screaming in that horrible room with the metal table and colorful liquids. "Nee-chan…Help…"_

* * *

You shudder violently and place a hand over your heart.

Wh-…What the hell was that?

Too long.

This trailing was taking _too long_.

You had to hurry. You had to go faster.

You…You had to calm down.

You press your palms to your head and bend over a little. You weren't used to all these…_feelings_. They were too strong and dangerous.

No wonder there were wars! They couldn't think straight with all these emotions controlling their actions.

This would have never happened if you had never met the little one. If you had just made a run for it that day Reborn told you to return that favor, then you wouldn't be having issues of rampant emotions clouding your judgment. But then…Tsuna would still be locked away…

Dammit! You didn't have time to think about this. You had to focus.

A hand descended onto your shoulder and you looked up to see the ever-calm Fong. "Take deep breaths Qiăo. I know you'll find him."

"I know I will too. I'd just like to lose all the emotional baggage blocking my way." You sigh and run your hand through your hair.

Just a little bit longer and you would be there. Your informants had given you everything you needed to know and after putting that together with what you already knew, you were able to deduce the location of the newly created hideout. There was only a three percent chance that you were wrong. All you had to do was get there.

After hopping out of the helicopter and jumping into the waiting car, you sped off. But the moment you stepped out of the vehicle, a very familiar scream wracked through the forest.

"Qiăo…" Fong called out slowly.

But you stayed frozen to the spot. You knew that he was hesitant because your eyes had most likely contracted from the amount of cold hard fury flowing through your system. You hardly recognize the sound of the car door crunching underneath your grip.

"Fong," you say quietly, just barely hanging onto your control. "I know that I should remain calm…but if you get in my way or attempt to help beyond this, I _will_ kill you."

You barely register the other's nod before you send an earth shattering punch into the ground, opening up the bottom half of the base and disappearing inside. These demons had crossed the line, so you were going to return the favor. Right now you weren't an assassin, you were a murderer, painting the walls in red.

The intensity of your sun flames corrode anything that comes within a few feet of you and the people inside writhe in pain and terror before you finally end them thanks to your unforgiving mist flames.

Your last bit of calmness was the only thing that managed to reign in your emotions and recognize the auras hidden behind on particularly thick metal door. You cut off your flames the moment the door collapses in a pile of ash like rust.

"Nee-chan!"

That little voice was all it took for you to regain your tranquility and composed yourself. You tore open the cage and pulled the little one into your arms.

Tsuna hugged you with all his might, a few tears leaking about. But then he pulled away, wiping his eyes furiously. "Nee-chan, we have to go save Mukuro-san and Nagi-chan!"

You nod once, picking up the child and staring down at the other two occupants. There was a small boy with glasses and a blond child with a large scar going across his nose. "Come on. I won't allow these monsters to harm you anymore."

You continue to search for any more survivors are you continued through the rest of the base. Tsuna remained in one arm, leaving the other free for you to attack with whenever you should encounter any more people. The other two little boys clung to the hem of your shirt, glancing around wearily. You could feel the plummeting feeling from their aura growing worse the farther you had to walk. You could easily deduce that the further you ventured into the building, the worse the experiments were.

But with your student in your arms, you can finally think straight and continue toward the aura signature of the kufufu-ing pineapple brat and his twin sister. When you finally reach the lab, you could smell the putrid scent of rotting flesh and blood. A scowl flashes across your features before you fall back into neutral.

You set the little one down on the ground and place your hands on his shoulders, staring into his eyes. "Hey little one, do you trust me?"

The brunet blinked and recognition flashed through his eyes. You smiled and gave you the same answer he first gave you when he got kidnapped. "Un."

The small child grabbed the hands of the other two and tugged them a short distance away. A small smile graced your features before your expression hardened and you pushed open the doors. A mist barrier cloaked the room and you started firing, shooting every scientist and hired muscle in a matter of seconds. But before you could kill the last guy, a vine lashed out and pierced the man through his heart.

You stored away your gun, and after giving the young blue haired boy a quick one over to check his condition, you ran over to a heavily bleeding Nagi.

You clicked your tongue. "Not good."

Her organs and her right eye was destroyed. There was no way she would survive…unless. You light your indigo flame and reach toward the girl's abdomen.

"Don't hurt her!" The young Rokudo boy snarled.

"Quiet boy," you hissed. "I don't have time to waste on you. If I don't do something right now, she'll die."

You don't even wait for a reply before you start weaving an illusion within the girl. You concentrate and condense your flames, fabricating a real illusion and simultaneously heal the tears and puncture wounds on her flesh. You don't relax until the girl's breathing evens out and her complexion returns to a peachy glow.

You gently pick up the girl and allow her brother to see her, taking note of his glowing red eye. Mukuro sighed in relief and relaxed his stance. He follows the two of you out of the room where you rejoin the other three children.

You take Tsuna's smaller hand in your own and smile a little. "Let's go home. I want to eat."

Tsuna laughed, appreciating the selfish normality in your words.

You sigh a little, releasing the rest of the negative tension in your body while blinking in the fading sunlight. "Now…let's never do something like that again."

* * *

**I thought about extending this into a few chapters, but decided against it in the end because I couldn't bring myself to torture chibi Tsuna. Just imagining what happened is killing me.**

**Reviews are lovely~!**


	26. Target 26

**Yay for update! I've changed my mind and shall be moving the Christmas special to its own link now instead of dealing with it here.**

**Special thanks to: Kildosad, anna the viking XD, hydro-serpent58, Akatsuki's Neko Stalker, and I Know I'm A Dreamer for reviewing!**

**I hope you like this chapter as well!**

* * *

Target 26

Poke.

His eyebrow twitched. "Knock it off."

Poke.

The twitching got worse and the irritated fumes of his aura was rolling off him in waves now, though he tried to maintain his smile still. "Kufufufu, would you like to die?"

Poooooooke.

"Okay, I get it!" Mukuro shouted.

You smile smugly and watch as the child finally dug into the food in front of him. "Good brat." You ruffled the boy's hair while dodging his attempt to stab you with his fork.

You had to say, the brat survived you poking his cheek for a good hour. However, you couldn't let him go without proper nutrition. Mukuro had been captive of the Estraneo family for a good week at least. You needed that he was able to maintain his health before you could investigate his eerily glowing red eyes. The other two boys you had taken with you, who had apparently shared a cell with Tsuna and the Spade siblings, had dug into their food almost immediately. Sure the blond boy had sniffed it first, oddly enough, but then he started wolfing everything down. At least glasses was more polite. Nagi and Tsuna were eating relatively quietly, but you did see Tsuna wipe her face once in a brotherly fashion, much to the little girl's embarrasment. It was almost…cute, how protective he looked.

"So what are you planning exactly?" Reborn questioned, pulling up a chair to sit next to you.

You shrug. "Their parents didn't exactly notice that their own kids were missing for a week. If Daemon hadn't asked for my help when they initially disappeared, my informant might not of had enough information for me by the time Tsuna was taken."

Reborn stared at you intently. "That doesn't answer my question."

All five kids stopped eating to look at you. Tsuna's eyes were completely hopeful and filled with faith in you, but the other four were much more weary. You could tell that the three other boys were ready to pounce the moment you started to say something about locking them away or turning them in.

You never liked to see a bunch of children with darkened auras. It reminded you of your past and you hated your past. So…

You sighed. Stupid doe-eyed pressure. You don't remember being this much of a sucker for kids before you met the Sawada family. Damn. "I bought an apartment. Mukuro, Nagi, Ken, and Chikusa can stay there. I'll find someone to look after them since I won't be around all the time."

There was a knock on the door before it burst open and a blond haired woman followed by Daemon dashed in. The girl scooped Mukuro and Nagi into her arms and hugged them, whispering words of thanks and comfort.

You glance over at the weary melon head brat. "I know you heard everything. I'll assume you know what you need to do for your end."

Daemon nodded, then hesitated a bit. "…Thank you."

You responded by digging into your slice of cake, which you just had pulled out from seemingly nowhere. "They'll need new names."

Mukuro sniffed indignantly. "I have no such need since I've been going by my chosen name right from the start."

You ignored the kid in favor of protecting your cake from Reborn, who was trying to swipe a bite.

"But…" The pineapple brat trailed off. "We should help Nagi with a new name."

You set your empty plate down with a clink and leaned into your palm, your elbow resting on the table. "For no blood relation, you three sure are close."

The small purple haired girl blushed furiously, while the two boys just avoided eye contact.

"What do you mean?" The blond woman asked.

"Ah." So not everyone knew…oops.

"Nagi was adopted by our parents as a publicity stunt," Daemon explained. "Even so, we love her like a sister."

The blond girl smiled softly and pulled the older spikey haired boy into the hug as well. "As you should."

The group broke apart when you slurped up some noodles particularly loud.

"Nee-chan, where are you getting all of that?" Tsuna asked, speaking up finally.

"I bought it while we were walking back." Ah. Out of noodles. Hmmm. You had some rice puffs around here somewhere…ah! Found it. "In any case, why don't we call Nagi, Chrome for now on."

"Chrome…Like the metal?" Spade number one asked in confusion. Actually, he was the only one who would have that surname for now on anyways.

"Sure, if you want to simplify the explanation. But I was thinking along the lines of turning Mukuro's name into an anagram, making Chrome Dokuro." Darn. Out of rice puffs.

The four shared a look before nodding.

The youngest girl smiled and walked over to you shyly. "Thank you."

You tensed a little when she gave you a hug, but relaxed and wrapped an arm around her in return. "I'll also take charge of their…" You sighed, you were dreading this but it had to be done. "Training…"

Unexpectedly, Tsuna was the one to cheer. "Then all of you can call her nee-chan now too! And I'll call you Chrome-chan, Mukuro-nii, Ken-kun, and Chikusa-kun! And all of you can call me Tsuna!"

"Kufufufu. You are an interesting one, Sawada Tsunayoshi," Mukuro said mischievously.

You can already feel the headache of futures to come. Oh your poor head.

"Tsu~na! Call me Tsuna!" The brunet insisted.

"Kufufufu, how about rabbit instead," the blue haired boy chuckled slyly.

You looked up when the other female in the room approached you and grabbed your hands.

Why was everyone touching you today? Whatever happened to the leave assassin number two alone policy?

"I want to thank you for all your help! Daemon and I were so worried when Mukuro and Nagi- ah, Chrome was kidnapped."

You blinked lazily. "Right."

You were such the conversationalist, weren't you? (Ah sarcasm, you never seem to fail)

The girl smiled despite your less than welcome attitude. "My name is Elena."

Wow. There was a lot of people with family issues apparently. Yet another name without a last, it was almost funny.

"What's yours dear?" The girl prompted when you only raised an eyebrow in response.

"Don't have one." Would this girl let go already? You just remembered you had some chocolate and strawberry flavored pocky stored away to snack on.

"You don't have to fear me telling anyone about you," Elena ensured.

Actually, you could end her life easily before the thought even processed through her mind.

"She really doesn't have one," Reborn spoke up for whatever reason. "She's using a temporary one since she's been here for a while though."

You sigh. Snitch. "For now you can just call me JJ."

The blond smiled. "Well thank you JJ."

"My dear Elena," Daemon cut in, sliding an arm around her waist. "I should let you know that JJ here is just like Reborn. Her age isn't what it seems."

Hm…You had forgotten about the whole Arcobaleno thing. The age flux thing had slowed down, so you still looked around the same age as the blond brat and his friends. 'Twas a shame.

Elena pulled you into a hug suddenly.

Ugh. More touching.

The girl pulled away and looked you straight in the eyes with a determined gleam. You had to give her props for that. Not too many people would date to make eye contact with you for more than a few seconds. "It doesn't matter if your ten or a hundred years older than me, for now on you can consider us like sisters."

…"Hah?" You blinked, then blinked again. What in the world was this girl spewing…

The blond woman's smile brightened. "I know that your someone who can be completely trusted. I know for sure that we can trust you to look after Mukuro-kun and Chrome-chan. Tsunayoshi's evident love of you is a testament to that."

…Were your ears clogged up? Trust and you didn't fit in the same paragraph, let alone sentence, very well. What part of _freelance __assassin_ did she not understand?

"You should come to our school festival! It's coming up in a few weeks," the girl continued, not taking notice that you were still trying to process the 'trust' part coming from a complete stranger. "You can wear my kimono from last year if you don't have anything, you're so petit I'm sure it'll fit. Giotto-kun, Daemon, and everyone else will be going as well. It'll be lots of fun!"

Aaah~, your snacks…Let go of your hands already.

"There will be lots of food-"

"I'll go," you interject. You like food, as long as it wasn't poisoned and tasted good of course.

"Yay!" The girl cheered. She rushed back over to the others to tell them the news, finally leaving you alone.

"So you're taking on more students after all."

Or not.

You glance back at Reborn, who was regarding you in an irritating light, then turn back to watch the small group, paying particularly close attention to the younger fruit brat. "You didn't see those lab notes Reborn. I read everything they were doing to these kids before burning the place down. That boy there is going to have a load of hell to pay if he isn't trained properly, and I mean that quite literally. And Chrome needs to learn how to access her powers so that she can support herself. I won't always be there and the same can be said for her brothers."

"And what of the other two?"

You sighed again. You were doing that a lot now. "I can't just leave those two alone after all of this, now can I?...I guess you're expecting me to train your brat every so often now, huh?"

Reborn smirked. "Definitely."

You sighed. Figures.

Line break

Reborn smirked at his student. "I've decided that since it would take more effort on my part to convince…JJ to actually tutor you properly physically, that we should compromise."

Ah?

Reborn was compromising with you? You should send a letter to the devil to see what he thought of all the ice down there. You were interested to see what frozen flames looked like.

"So instead of teaching you how to survive in a fight, she'll be tutoring you in the art of seduction."

Cue spit take from the younger male.

Hm…You only had a few more lollipops left…Maybe you should just bring your pen pal to live over here.

"Wh-what do you mean s…s…" Giotto stuttered, unable to even say the word.

But Reborn just ignored them and turned toward you. "Is that alright with you?"

"I have full permission to mentally scar him and mess with his head?" You smirk. "Sounds like fun. I bet 100 American dollars that I can get the blond brat to faint within the first 47 seconds."

Reborn's smirk widened. "Deal."

"W-Wait! Don't make decisions like I'm not even here!" The blond spluttered.

Again, he went ignored while you took off your hat and mussed up your hair, popping open another button on your shirt. You stepped purposely over to the Vongola Decimo candidate and pulled him closer by his school tie.

You leaned close so that your breath would brush against his ear and neck. "Let's see if you can keep up, boy."

You released the brat's accessory, noticing the red painting his neck up. He immediately fell to the floor in a dead faint.

"48 seconds."

You turned around with a raised brow. "You're kidding me. That kid was out for the count in 30 seconds."

"But he didn't hit the floor, proving that he was fully unconscious, until 48 seconds," Reborn argued.

You clicked your tongue, but pulled out your phone and transferred the amount to one of Reborn's accounts, showing the screen to prove you had fulfilled your end of the deal. You glanced back at the unconscious blond. "That didn't take very long. I didn't even do anything that particularly bad."

"That's why I felt that this compromise would benefit the both of us."

You shrug. "It was to be expected. You were pretty embarrassed too, not to the point of fainting, but you were still pretty red."

Reborn smirked. "I returned the favor in full though."

You nod. "That you did."

"You need a permanent name."

Well that was random. "Ship's sailed. Next."

Reborn raised an eyebrow slightly and continued anyway. "You know too many people at this point to continue using different aliases. It's time you found one that Tsuna and everyone else can refer to you by."

You rolled your eyes. "You think of one then, because I'm not putting in the effort."

The raven smirked. "You sure you want to leave that up to me?"

You hummed. "You're right. Maybe I should ask someone else to do it since your choice may come out as cheesy as your current name. Seriously, you chose Reborn as a name because then 'everyone who comes in contact with you is reborn in a sense'?"

Reborn flicked your head, but you let him get away with it. You knew that such a name fit the life of an assassin quite well since it also implied that by being reborn each day, he isn't tied to anyone or the past that haunts him.

"Well, one lesson per day," you chirp. "I'm going to take Tsuna out to see the others."

"Don't go anywhere else and come back before five," the hitman commanded.

"Don't tie me down Reborn," You said evenly as you fixed yourself up and began walking away. "If you hadn't noticed, the last person who tried to cage me ended up dead."

* * *

This week was actually very…peaceful.

"VRROOOOIII!"

Yeah.

You knew it was too good to be true.

* * *

**I will give a spoiler to anyone who can guess what's going to happen next before I upload the next chapter. ;)**

**Reviews are lovely~!**


	27. Target 27

**I want to say a BIG THANK YOU to: Kildosad, anna the viking XD, hydro-serpent58, Akatsuki's Neko Stalker, I Know I'm A Dreamer, Secret29, TheKawaiiStar21, and XxPinkPenguinxX for reviewing! It means a lot and helps me keep going!**

**I hope you enjoy!**

* * *

Target 27

"VROOOOII!"

You yawn a little and roll over, blatantly ignoring the newly arrived group. You didn't feel like dealing with them right now.

"VOOOI! You call us over here and give us this treatment you piece of shit!" Squalo shouted, waving around his sword wildly by the sounds of it.

You let out a soft snore in reply. You weren't really asleep, but maybe if they thought you were, they would go away and come back in a few more hours.

"VOOOI!" Squalo swooped in to try to swipe off your head, but you easily deflect the boy by flicking a pebble at his head. The boy shouted again and moved to attack, but was held back by a cooing Lusseria.

You yawn again and sit up. How irritating.

"Ushishishi! Flutter-chan should have immediately greeted the prince upon his arrival!" The boy said with an irritated smile whilst pulling your cheeks.

You blink lazily. This is why you didn't want to ever see them again. However, if you were going to completely quell the annoying raging brat, you suggested that he 'test' the main candidate for Vongola Decimo. The bright side out of all of this is that you were going to get the chance to watch the irritating blond freak out and maybe even pee his pants.

You bat the annoying little dirty blond away and stand up with a stretch. "You came too early. I told you to come when the brat was walking home from school."

"Tch. And how the hell were we supposed to know that time, woman?" Xanxus growled.

You scratch the side of your head lethargically. "You have informants. Use them. Or, you know, the internet."

Xanxus clicked his tongue but didn't argue.

"Mou~! Then we'll head over to our hotel and wait for your call, Elly-chan!" Lusseria cooed.

…Elly…chan…?

…

Annoying.

You lie back down and roll over so that your back was facing the group, letting them know you weren't going to discuss anything else.

"How dare you turn your back to boss-" Lev-whatever-his-name-was, started to shout indignantly, but was kicked away by an irate Xanxus.

"Let's go trash. I want steak." The raven stalked off before anything else could be said, his subordinates/friends chasing after him.

You finally got back up around the time the blond brat would be getting out of school, having already asked Fon to pick up Tsuna from his own. You wait by the main gates, leaning against the brick wall and trying not to fall back asleep. The other teenage brats whisper and blatantly stare as they walk by at an excruciatingly slow pace past you.

"Hey! JJ!" Giotto comes jogging up to you with a bright smile, his friends trailing behind. "What brings you all the way over here?"

"Boredom and the chance to see something rather amusing," you reply blandly. You shrug away and start escorting the group back toward the Sawada residence, ignoring the even brighter smile sent your way.

"So will you be watching over us today?" Giotto inquired. "Because there's a new movie in that a few of us want to see and seeing as it's the weekend, we can go to another town for a short visit."

"Been there, done that, don't care," you discourage. "I have something else in mind for this week."

"And what would that be?" Reborn asks, popping out from the shadows, where he had been tailing the group the whole time.

You blink lazily, unaffected by the other's antics and ignore the shouts of surprise from the teenagers. "I'm paying back a favor to you and to that other brat using your student and his friends."

"Oi!" The temperamental crimson brat objects.

But Reborn cuts him off before he could continue any further. "Oh? And what did you have in mind."

"VRROOOOII!"

"That," you point toward the approaching figures.

"This is the other candidate?" Squalo shouted. "I've seen rabbits more terrifying than him!"

"It's that loud guy again!" Lampo exclaimed.

Hm. You wonder if there was a takoyaki stand nearby.

"Oi, El. Get over here," Xanxus commanded.

"Eh?" You blink. "Sorry, but I don't take orders from brats."

"Woman," Xanxus growled.

You sighed. "I shall indulge you for now, but I want payment later." You hop up the small cliff and land silently on the grass next to the boy, turning to stare down at the other group. "With Nono's permission, the Vongola candidates Sawada Ieyasu-"

"Giotto!" The blond interrupted.

But you ignore him, as always. "And Xanxus along with their guardians shall battle it out for the position of Vongola Decimo. What this means to me is that I get to watch a bunch a brats beat the snot out each other and get paid for it too. It's a win-win situation for me."

The slightly younger group sweat dropped. Though, you don't really see why. They should be used to your behavior by now.

"We shall also be assisting as judges," a bland voice (almost as emotionless as yours) called out.

However, more importantly was the fact that two Cervello had jumped into all of this and said assist. This was a no-no. There was no 'assist' in all of this, especially concerning you. You were here to watch brats beat each other up for little pieces of jewelry and a title of a position you could care less about.

"What assist?" You inquire. "You'll be the _only_ judges. I was only asked to make sure they didn't kill each other."

The Cervello who had spoken first held up a letter with a sky flame seal. Bummer. "Nono has asked for you to oversee the matches and judge the outcome."

The other pink haired women stepped up as well. "We were asked to watch the impending matches and make sure your decisions are fair and unbiased."

Ugh. That sounded like extra unpaid work to you. "I don't want to. And Nono never said anything about more work."

"Vongola Nono has asked us to inform you that you shall receive an A Class payment for six matches and an S Class for the last one," Cervello number one informed you.

"Don Timoteo has ensured that you shall also still receive the original payment you had discussed," Cervello number two finished.

Hm…That wasn't bad. But…soooo muuuuch woooork…

You sigh. "I'm taking a vacation after this one."

The two Cervello nodded, understanding your statement as a confirmation.

"Wait, wait, wait!" G called out. "What's going on here?"

"A Ring Battle," you inform the group with a yawn.

"Normally, one set of the half Vongola rings are held by the Boss and the External Advisor and during the announcement of the successor, a completed Ring is given to the chosen seven. However, this time has become an exception. The sets of seven chosen by the two of them do not match, and each of them handed them out to whomever they chose. Meaning, the seven led by Xanxus-sama, chosen by the Ninth. And the seven lead by Ieyasu, led by Iemitsu," The Cervello said, switching off between the two.

After the details were given, much of which you ignored (though stored away for future analysis should it be required), there were some threats thrown back and forth.

"I'll annihilate you" and "I won't let you hurt my friends" and the like. After which you grew bored and slipped out the rest of the teenage nonsense in favor of the meal Nana had just finished up (or so your Nana's food internal radar was telling you).

You and Tsunayoshi are halfway through your meals by the time the rest of the group joins, after which you take the small one upstairs to finish his homework and then out for a little training with Fon.

* * *

Monday night finds you examining by a boxing ring set up in the middle of Ieyasu's school's courtyard, erected by the Cervello no doubt.

"The first match will be the battle to determine the Sun guardian," the Cervello announce upon the arrival of all the competitors. "The contestants shall have three minutes to determine a winner. After the given time, an electrical burst will surge in 30 second intervals."

You ignore the worried whispers of the brats and analyze the light bulbs of the stadium carefully, humming a little when you completely understand the mechanism. "None of you have to worry about Knuckles getting electrocuted. What they mean is that each light bulb is a flash bomb. Granted, you guys should still end this battle quickly. Too many of those can do a pretty good amount of damage overtime. That and I have a bed with my name on it. So! On with the killing!"

"JJ!" Giotto protested. "How can you be so casual about this? Knuckles and that other guy can seriously injure themselves."

"Duh. It's a battle," You deadpan. "Besides, I said I was supposed to make sure no one died. Otherwise I wouldn't be giving up my precious hours of sleep right now. Now stop holding up the show."

You pull on a pair of specially made sunglasses and a large bag of popcorn. The Cervello nod, acknowledging your cue to continue, and initiate the battle. You honestly had no idea how this was going to turn out. The Varia were undoubtedly strong, you didn't doubt that. However, you have never really stuck around long enough to determine how the younger brats could stand up to the vicious group.

Well, you needed to amend that statement. You knew how strong Ieyasu and his little groupie was. However, you didn't know how much stronger their emotions could make them, or how much weaker.

Knuckles abstained from boxing whenever he could, due to an even you had actually witnessed about a year ago. Conversely, this landed the battle in Lusseria's favor, seeing as the raven would undoubtedly hold back. Three minutes in battle was actually a decent amount of time, but in a drawn out battle, the type that Lusseria used whenever he spotted…his…type…

…

Knuckles may be in danger… In more ways than one.

You remain passive and uncaring, not even blinking, when Knuckles punches Lusseria's metal kneecap. "This battle is as good as over."

"JJ! How can you say that!" Giotto exclaimed, his features twisted with worry.

"He'll never get anywhere like that, kora!"

The brats jump and whirl around to see Colonello standing on your other side.

"Who the hell are you!" G shouted.

You ignore the younger brats and nod in agreement to the older blond idiot's statement. "Holding back on an enemy of that caliber generally isn't recommended."

"And to make things worse, they're already past the two minute mark," Reborn added.

"If Lusseria doesn't stop playing around, then Knuckles is going to be at an even bigger disadvantage." You hum a little in thought. Perhaps you should just end the battle as it was. It was obvious who the winner was going to be.

"That's right," Colonello agrees. "With those specially made sunglasses, He'll be sure to be able to see and continue fighting. That other kid will have even less of a chance once he's blinded."

"It doesn't help that Lusseria has a wider range of martial art skills, while Knuckles is limited to boxing. Of which, he hasn't practiced often for a year," you add.

Reborn smirked. "But that's not taking into account the right motivation."

You nod again, having expected this much, turning to face the hitman. "I suppose you organized that part, but don't you think you're cutting it a little close?"

Reborn turns to face the main gate and you follow his gaze to see a small orange haired girl and her white haired slightly older brother running hand in hand over to your side of the stadium.

"Onii-san!" The small girl, named Kyoko by what your files told you, cried out.

"EXTREME fighting nii-san!" The boy named Ryohei shouted.

…

Well… He certainly had a set of lungs for such a young brat.

"Onii-san! You promised you wouldn't fight anymore!" Kyoko accused, her eyes watering.

Boo-hoo, tears-tears, now on with the killing!

"EXTREMELY not cool, nii-san!" Ryohei agreed. "You should have EXTREMELY told me first so that I could watch!"

Sigh. Another idiot.

You narrow your eyes and in a flash, you are in between the two opponents, Lusseria's fist in your grasp. "What did I say about no killing."

Had you not moved when you did, Lusseria would have landed a fatal punch on the younger teen and broken his neck. The motivation didn't work as planned. Instead of giving Knuckles the strength to fight, it killed his will to continue and made him vulnerable to attacks.

"This match goes to the Varia's sun guardian, Lusseria." You snatch the ring from the young boxer and throw it to the older boy, also releasing the others notably red hand. "I had expected more from both of you. Next time, you should remember your promises in more detail."

The last part was directed toward Knuckles and by the way he hung his head, he knew it as well.

The Cervello stepped forward and announced the next match to be between the two Mist guardians before the Varia vacated the premises.

You glanced back at the losing team, tempted to just leave. On the other hand, you lived with their leader, so you might as well say something first.

You walk up to the defeated boy and punch him hard enough to send him flying back a little, though it was definitely a light punch for someone like you, but it was meant just to make a point get across.

"Hey! Knock it off!" G protested and reached forward to pull you back. However, Colonello caught his arm and shook his head.

You stand in front of the boy, who held his swelling cheek, as aloofly as ever. "I thought that I had made it clear that day that you were not to hesitate just because of that event. You should have known the difference between a match and a fight for your family. Yet, here we are. I had expected you to lose with more dignity than that. You feel guilty for what happened, I get that. But think about the people you vowed to protect, the next time you decide to throw away your life like nothing."

You stalk off without another word, leaving a deafening silence behind.

This battle wasn't as amusing as you thought it would be.

* * *

**To get this out of the way, yes there will be the ring battles. And no, it will not turn out as exactly like it was in the manga/anime. There will be similarities, but that doesn't mean everything will be the same either.**

**Reviews are lovely~!**


	28. Chapter 28: Important Note

_**IMPORTANT**_ NOTE: According to FanFiction site rules, apparently second person formatted stories are not allowed. I had overlooked this when I started this story and because of that, unless I change the entire thing before Critics United gangs up on me, this story is in danger of being deleted.

It's amazing how fast your motivation can be shot down when you receive such reviews. I'm severely tempted to just keep going (seeing as I really was trying to follow all the rules), because I've spent a lot of time and effort thinking out this story and trying to write it in an actual publishable style. Sentiment is a Sin as well as my other reader inserts was a way for me to practice second person as well as re-introduce a writing style that not too many have been able to bring justice to. Seeing as this sort of story isn't supported by this sight, I will not be able to update until I have edited the entire thing.

I've tried contacting the administrators of the sight to request them to allow second-person/you type stories, but have yet to receive a reply. It seems unjust for them to take out that format, and in doing so they should take out first and second person stories as well. But then they might as well delete the sight because that would be banning all forms of literature.

But I digress.

I'm waiting until the last possible moment in the hopes that I will get a reply and that they will allow this story to continue. I'm editing chapters as I go, but I'm hoping that I won't have to replace anything. The best thing I can do right now is inform every one of the changes that are being made and hope that you understand.

Here's a snippet of what's to come (written in the site approved format that I will be editing the other chapters to):

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**Next chapter**:

"I declare Mammon the winner!" I called out immediately, not even giving them the chance to start the match.

"What!" Giotto shouted. "But why?"

Before the other brats could protest, one of the Cervello stepped forward. "Ma'am, that is an entirely biased call."

"You can't put that out there and expect me not to do anything," I told them blandly. Honestly. They should have known I would have reacted this way.

"There was no other item or person we could use for this battle," the Cervello sentinel reminded me.

"You can say that all you want, but I'm not going to budge my decision. You either take both out of the equation or change the challenge entirely." There was nothing they could say that would change my mind.

"You shall receive double the amount should the item be destroyed."

Except that. _That_ could change my mind.

"I want half right now." The sentinel immediately handed over a briefcase to which I waved my hand absentmindedly as I went through the contents. "Proceed."

"JJ! Don't you care that they could die!" Annoying blond yelled.

"What part of I'm here to prevent anyone from actually dying do you not understand," I gripe. Really. I feel that this had been repeated far too many times already. They needed to let the information sink in already and let the maiming continue already.

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**Future chapters as a whole**:

I roll onto my back once more, facing away from the other assassin. "(f/n)."

Reborn's eyes snapped toward me. "What?"

"My name…My name was (f/n)," you tell the other softly.

xXx

"Haha! This was a lot of fun!"

"Shut up, baseball idiot!"

"This was an EXTREMELY fun picnic!"

"You too turf top!"

"Hn. Enough crowding herbivores."

"Kufufu, it seems the little birdie's feathers are all ruffled."

"I'll bite you to death."

"Mukuro-sama…"

"We should do this again nee-chan!"

Ba-dump.

"Everyone get down!" I shouted, pushing as many of them to the ground as I could.

We barely avoided the attack.

"Get out of here!" I ordered the group, blocking another oncoming blow with a gun.

"But nee-chan-!"

"Just go!" I turn around and fire.

My heart freezes as black flames sprung up around me and Tsunayoshi, who was at the back of the pack when they made a run for it. I pulled him close and glanced around hurriedly, trying to look for an opening. "We have come for only you, Mocking Bird. Should you come quietly, no one else shall be harmed."

X

A flash of pain, blood flying, and a desperate cry.

It hurt. Everything hurt.

But I couldn't let him see. I had to be strong, one last time.

I smiled. "I want you to remember nee-chan smiling, not when she was hurt okay? Always remember nee-chan when she was happy. Your nee-chan will be sad if you only remember me like this. Promise me, okay?"

"I promise." Tears fell in rivers as he ran. The poor boy I would never be able to help after all.

From there the darkness was creeping, and I was falling.

X

"Hmm? How interesting. An incomplete, incomplete Arcobaleno. Let's see what we can do about this, ne?"

"You…are an awful liar…Checkerface."

"Is that so?" A sinister smile with cruel intentions. "Why don't we test that theory out?"

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**I hope this will keep your attention and support! As I said, I'm waiting for a reply from the admins, but if they take too long, then I'll start transferring this over to this other writing style. **


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